“It’s insane. He died aged 25, only guitar players remember him, and yet he was the sound of the Pretenders”: Chrissie Hynde pays tribute to the underrated guitar hero who defined the Pretenders

The Pretenders’ self-titled debut album turned 45 years old in 2025, and Chrissie Hynde has paid tribute to her late co-guitarist James Honeyman-Scott, whom she believes made the record magic.

Honeyman-Scott was a major player in the new wave movement of the 1980s, spearheading two albums and an EP with the Pretenders before his untimely death in 1982.

Fast forward through the decades, and Hynde has become the only continuous original member. Yet, speaking in a fan Q&A hosted by the Guardian, Hynde downplays her role in the band’s early success – and puts the spotlight firmly on Honeyman-Scott.

“I was staying in a freezing cold attic in a women’s boarding house in Tufnell Park, north London, and had probably written a few of the songs before I met them,” she says of Honeyman-Scott, Pete Farndon, and drummer Martin Chambers.

“Every guitar player I’ve had since James Honeyman-Scott has been influenced by him, for example: Johnny Marr,” she develops. Marr briefly joined the band after the Smiths broke up in 1987.

“The moment James came to my front door, I knew we’d be in a band together. I got friendly with Benji Lysaght – who produced and plays on [her 2025 solo album] Duets Special – after he came up to me in catering and said: 'Can I ask you something about James Honeyman-Scott?'

“It’s insane: Jimmy died aged 25. Only guitar players remember him, and yet he was the sound of the Pretenders.

“I was an angry biker chick,” she says, “but he brought out the melody.”

In the following years, Hynde spearheaded the band as the leader and figurehead of the Pretenders. The 1983 single, 2000 Miles, which is considered a Christmas song despite being lyrically tied to Honeyman-Scott’s passing, is a prime example of her own prowess.

“A year after he died, I was in the Sunset Marquis [in LA] thinking about him,” she recalls. “I rented a guitar and wrote 2000 Miles. I’ve always regretted that the rental company wouldn’t sell it to me because I wanted that guitar so much.”

Pretenders - 2000 Miles (Official Music Video) [HD] - YouTube

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In April, Hynde recalled a moment at a gig where she fell foul of Honeyman-Scott's wrath because she stopped playing mid-gig, and the time she bought her own signature guitar from a store.