Hynde was born in Akron, Ohio, United States, the daughter of a part-time secretary and a Yellow Pages manager,[3] and grew up in nearby Cuyahoga Falls.

[12] Hynde attempted to start a band in France, before her return to Cleveland in 1975,[3] and joined a rhythm and blues group, Jack Rabbit.

[7][13] After living in Tucson,[7] she returned to France in 1975 at the invitation of Michael Fradji Memmi, bass player of the Frenchies (fr), which she joined as the singer.

At one point she tried to convince Steve Jones and then Johnny Rotten (of the Sex Pistols, who were managed by McLaren) to marry her to get her a work permit.

[14][15] Hynde's version of this episode has it that Rotten "offered to go to a registry office with me and do the unmentionable" but when he subsequently withdrew, Sid Vicious volunteered to take his place.

[16] Upon arrival at the registry office the following morning, they found it "closed for an extended holiday" and were unable to attend the following day due to Vicious making a court appearance.

[7] After the lack of success with the band, 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.

Named after a pair of child-killers, the band consisted of future Visage front man Steve Strange on vocals, Vince Ely on drums, with Mark Ryan (a.k.a.

[21] Hill stepped in to manage her career, and began by paying off the back rent owed on her rehearsal room in Covent Garden, London.

[7] After reforming with a caretaker line-up (Martin Chambers, Billy Bremner, Tony Butler, and Jeremy Allom) for their next single, "Back on the Chain Gang", the band settled down with Robbie McIntosh (guitar) and Malcolm Foster (bass) during the recording of their next album, the worldwide hit Learning to Crawl.

[33] On March 9, 2022, Hynde performed a rendition of the Pretenders song "I'll Stand By You" at Night for Ukraine, a fundraising benefit held at the Roundhouse in north London, with the funds raised being donated to the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal, to provide aid to people fleeing Ukraine following the Russian invasion.

[35][36] Hynde, along with Curved Air's Sonja Kristina, sang backing vocals on Mick Farren's 1978 album Vampires Stole My Lunch Money and also on Hurt by Chris Spedding.

[38] Hynde sang the vocals on the track "State of Independence Part II" on a Moodswings album named Moodfood, which was played during the closing credits on the soundtrack of Single White Female.

[42] Eric Clapton appeared on the track, supplying the lead guitar solo that is featured in the song's instrumental bridge.

In 1997, the EMI publishing company issued a cease and desist request to Rush Limbaugh, who for years had been using an edited instrumental version of Hynde's song "My City Was Gone" for the broadcast's opening theme.

They agreed to a royalty contract which she retained and at one time used for a payment to PETA to raise awareness of chemical testing on animals.

[citation needed] In 1999, Hynde played guitar and sang vocals with Sheryl Crow on the song "If It Makes You Happy" during a concert in Central Park.

Hynde also recorded a song called "Cry (If You Don't Mind)" with the Spanish band Jarabe de Palo for their album Un metro cuadrado – 1m².

[48] She supplied the voice for Siri, the clouded leopard in the movie Rugrats Go Wild (2003) in which she sang a duet with Bruce Willis.

[49] In 2004, Hynde moved to São Paulo, Brazil, for a couple of months in order to play with Brazilian musician Moreno Veloso.

[54] On October 17, 2008, she was an opening act for fellow Akron-area musicians Devo at a special benefit concert at the Akron Civic Theater for then-presidential candidate Barack Obama.

[57] Hynde and Welsh singer J.P. Jones formed a band called "J.P., Chrissie and the Fairground Boys", releasing an album, Fidelity, on August 24, 2010.

[59] On February 5, 2011, Hynde and the Pretenders performed live on CMT Crossroads with Faith Hill and her band, including songs from both catalogs.

[61] She also later joined Cave in 2010 for a rendition of Screamin' Jay Hawkins' song "I Put a Spell on You" as a benefit for the Haiti disasters.

The song and music video featured performances by Mick Jones, Glen Matlock, Shane MacGowan, and Bobby Gillespie among others.

[2] In the 1970s, Hynde, unable to obtain a work visa, asked both Sid Vicious and Johnny Rotten to marry her, though for various reasons neither did.

[70] In 1982, Hynde and Ray Davies planned to wed in Guildford, but "the guy in the registry office took one look at us and suggested we come back another time".

[7] They lived in South Queensferry, Scotland[72] and divorced in 1990;[72] Hynde was married to Colombian artist and sculptor Lucho Brieva from 1997 to 2002.

[80] Hynde has publicly campaigned against the extradition of Julian Assange to the United States, and in February 2020 called on then President Donald Trump to "set him free".

[78] In October 2018, Hynde released a limited edition book of her artworks, titled Adding the Blue, the name being taken from the final track on her 2014 solo album, Stockholm.