[2] The band's hit songs include "Kid" (1979), "Brass in Pocket" (1979), "Talk of the Town" (1980), "Message of Love" (1981), "My City Was Gone" (1982), "Back on the Chain Gang" (1982), "Middle of the Road" (1983), "2000 Miles" (1983[3]), "Don't Get Me Wrong" (1986), "My Baby" (1986) and "I'll Stand by You" (1994).

Hynde, originally from Akron, Ohio, moved to London in 1973, working at the weekly music paper NME[4] and at Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's clothes store.

[5] Hynde's own provocative band project, centred around her own songwriting, was initially called (Mike Hunt's) Dishonorable Discharge and featured former London SS and future Damned members, along with Mick Jones and Sid Vicious (where Hynde taught Vicious to play guitar), but failed to get managerial backing from either Malcolm McLaren or Bernie Rhodes, despite them both poaching her band members for, or asking her to fill in, in their pet projects.

[4] Hynde then formed a band composed of Pete Farndon on bass, James Honeyman-Scott on guitar, and Gerry Mcilduff on drums.

This band, then without a name, recorded five tracks at Regents Park Studio in July 1978, including a cover of the Kinks' song "Stop Your Sobbing".

[11] The band's first single, a cover of the Kinks song "Stop Your Sobbing" (produced by Nick Lowe and recorded at the July Regents Park sessions) was released in January 1979 and gained critical attention.

[14] Due to Farndon's escalating drug abuse, he was fired from the band after a meeting between Hynde, Honeyman-Scott, and Chambers on 14 June 1982.

During July 1982, a caretaker team of Hynde, Chambers, Rockpile guitarist Billy Bremner, and Big Country bassist Tony Butler was assembled to record the single "Back on the Chain Gang".

[16][17] Hynde then set up a more permanent lineup for the band, keeping Chambers and adding Robbie McIntosh on guitar and Malcolm Foster on bass.

[4] Soon after recording sessions for the next album began and one track had been completed, Hynde declared that Chambers was no longer playing well and dismissed him.

Discouraged at the loss of his bandmate, Foster quit ("My whole argument was that Martin Chambers was the rhythm section of the Pretenders and it didn't really matter who was playing bass.

The Get Close album was released in 1986; the disc included the top 10 singles, "Don't Get Me Wrong" from the film Gung Ho (helped by a popular video homage to the television series the Avengers) and "Hymn to Her", a No.

Partway into the tour, she took drastic action: Stevens and Worrell were both sacked, Malcolm Foster was reinstated on bass, and Rupert Black returned on keyboards.

[citation needed] In mid 1987, McIntosh left the band and was replaced by ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, who remained with the group until early 1988.

But by the end of the album sessions (and for the subsequent tour) the official band line-up was Hynde, Seymour, Hobson, and returning drummer Martin Chambers.

[21][22] The Pretenders joined with Emmylou Harris on Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons, performing the song "She".

Rolling Stone noted its "refinement, stylish melodies and vocal fireworks," while Blender called it "slick, snarky pop with flashes of brilliance".

[26] During her acceptance speech, Hynde named and thanked all the replacement members of the group, then said: "I know that the Pretenders have looked like a tribute band for the last 20 years.

Tracks include "Boots of Chinese Plastic", "Don't Cut Your Hair", "Love's a Mystery", "The Last Ride" and "Almost Perfect".

[28] In September 2012, the Pretenders re-grouped (Hynde, Chambers, Heywood, Walbourne, Wilkinson) as part of the entertainment line-up for the 2012 Singapore Grand Prix.

[38] On 3 September 2022, Pretenders performed at the Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium with Dave Grohl on bass.