NEW YORK, 1980
While the band formed in 1978, and launched their first three singles the following year, 1980 was the year The Pretenders broke really big. Although released in November, Brass In Pocket, one of those ubiquitous number ones you’d hear playing everywhere, reached the number one spot in January 1980 – the same monthas their self-titled debut hit the racks. Nick Lowe produced the band’s first single, Stop Your Sobbing, but decided not to work withthem again, as he thought they were “not going anywhere”. It meant Chris Thomas would take over on the recording sessions. Pretenders bulleted straight in at number 1 on the UK Albums Chart in the week of its release and stayed on top of the pile for a month. It also made the top 10 across the pond in the States. The band were in demand, and, in particular takeno- prisoners frontwoman Chrissie Hynde, pictured here in a photographer’s studio in New York before a shoot withMartin Chambers, James Honeyman-Scott and the piano-loving Pete Farndon. Tragically, a mere three years later the band would be down to only two living members, after bothHoneyman-Scott and Farndon died in drug-related incidents