Chrissie Hynde

Christine Ellen "Chrissie" Hynde (born September 7, 1951) is an American musician who is best known as a founding member of the rock band The Pretenders. She supplied the voice for the clouded leopard in the movie "Rugrats Go Wild" (2003) in which she sang a duet with Bruce Willis

Inspired by hippie counter-culture, Hynde worked in London with Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood at their punk-themed clothing store, SEX. In 1978, she formed her own band, The Pretenders, with Pete Farndon, James Honeyman-Scott and Martin Chambers. As singer, songwriter and guitarist, she has been the only constant member of the band throughout its history. She has also released a number of hits with other musicians including Frank Sinatra and UB40. Hynde and The Pretenders were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005.

Hynde was born in Akron, Ohio, the daughter of a part-time secretary and a Yellow Pages manager. She graduated from Firestone High School in Akron, but stated that "I was never too interested in high school. I mean, I never went to a dance, I never went out on a date, I never went steady. It became pretty awful for me. Except, of course, I could go see bands, and that was the kick. I used to go to Cleveland just to see any band. So I was in love a lot of the time, but mostly with guys in bands that I had never met. For me, knowing that Brian Jones was out there, and later that Iggy Pop was out there, made it kind of hard for me to get too interested in the guys that were around me. I had, uh, bigger things in mind."

Hynde became interested in hippie counterculture, Eastern mysticism, and vegetarianism. While attending Kent State University's Art School for three years, she joined a band called Sat. Sun. Mat., which included Mark Mothersbaugh, later of Devo.

Hynde also developed an interest in the UK music magazine NME and moved to London in 1973. With her art background, Hynde landed a job in an architectural firm but left after eight months. It was then that she met rock journalist Nick Kent (with whom she became involved) and landed a writing position at NME. However, this proved not to last and Hynde later found herself working at Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's then-little-known clothing store, SEX. At one point she tried to convince Johnny Rotten and then Sid Vicious (of The Sex Pistols, who were managed by McLaren) to marry her, just in order for her to get a work permit. Hynde then attempted to start a band in France before her return to Cleveland in 1975.

Hynde went back to France in 1976 to try to form a band, but it did not work out. She left Kent for Michael Fradji Memmi, bass player of The Frenchies, which she joined. For one show at the Olympia Theatre when their singer had left, she took the lead singer duties. She found her way back to London in the midst of the early punk movement. In late 1976, Hynde responded to an advertisement in Melody Maker for band members and attended an audition for the band that would become 999. Jon Moss (who would later be in Culture Club) and Tony James of Generation X also auditioned. Later, Hynde tried to start a group with Mick Jones from The Clash.

After the band failed to take flight, Malcolm McLaren placed her as a guitarist in Masters of the Backside, but she was asked to leave the group just as it became The Damned. After a brief spell in the band Johnny Moped, Mick Jones invited Hynde to join his band on their initial tour of Britain. Hynde recollected of that period: "It was great, but my heart was breaking. I wanted to be in a band so bad. And to go to all the gigs, to see it so close up, to be living in it and not to have a band was devastating to me. When I left, I said, 'Thanks a lot for lettin' me come along,' and I went back and went weeping on the underground throughout London. All the people I knew in town, they were all in bands. And there I was, like the real loser, you know? Really the loser."

Hynde also spent a short time with The Moors Murderers in 1978. Named after a pair of child-killers, the band consisted of future Visage front man Steve Strange on vocals, Vince Ely on drums, and Mark Ryan (a.k.a. The Kid) and Hynde on guitar. The band's name alone was enough to start controversy and she soon distanced herself from the group, as noted in NME. Hynde said, "I'm not in the group, I only rehearsed with them". She stated that "Steve Strange and Soo Catwoman had the idea for the group, and asked me to help them out on guitar, which I did, even though I was getting my own group together and still am."

Hynde had a daughter, Natalie, in 1983 with Ray Davies of the Kinks. She then married Jim Kerr, lead singer of the band Simple Minds, and had another daughter, Yasmin, in 1985. They lived in South Queensferry. They later divorced, and Hynde married artist Lucho Brieva in 1997. They separated in 2002.

She follows Vaishnavism, a branch of Hinduism and travels to India once every year to further her studies.

Hynde lives in London, England, and also has an apartment in the Northside Lofts in her hometown of Akron.

She was listed as one of the 50 best-dressed over 50s by The Guardian in March 2013.

Hynde's daughter Natalie was arrested in 2013 following a protest against the felling of trees in Combe Haven in East Sussex to make way for a road.

Hynde is a vegetarian and animal rights activist. She is a supporter of PETA and the animal rights group Viva!. She also appeared in anti-fur trade organization Respect for Animals' commercial 'Fur and Against' in 2002, alongside Jude Law, Paul McCartney and others.