Pretenders singer Chrissie Hynde opened up about her late bandmates and revealed her regrets about them. The singer spoke to Record Collector about her regret and called herself guilty about the passing away of her two bandmates, Pete Farndon and James Honeyman-Scott.
She admitted her guilt with the following words:
“I am guilty. It’s not a big word if you are guilty. It’s big if you feel guilty and you’re not guilty. But if you really are guilty, then you should put your hand up and say, ‘Guilty as charged.'”
She then opened up about the time she found out about the passing away of Farndon and expressed her regret:
“I was having problems with Pete – so, perhaps not guilty, but there’s an element of wishing you’d done better.”
According to the frontwoman, the band doesn’t feel like the real Pretenders. She continued:
“Since Pete and Jimmy died and because I’ve had to replace people, it’s now kind of like a Pretenders tribute band, named The Pretenders.”
The rocker made it clear that she did not discourage the drug-taking among the members, which caused the two to pass away at a young age.
Farndon was fired from the band in June 1982 due to his heroin use, and two days later Honeyman-Scott was found dead from heart failure due to cocaine intolerance. Following his death, Farndon passed away the following April also due to a cocaine-related reason.
The Pretenders’ new album ‘Relentless’ has been released, and the line-up features Hynde on vocals, James Walbourne on guitar, Carwyn Ellis on keyboards, Kris Sonne on drums, Chris Hill on double bass, and Dave Page on bass. Below, you can listen to the album.
