The Pretenders are an English-American rock band formed in Hereford, England, United Kingdom in March 1978. The original band consisted of initiator and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), James Honeyman-Scott (lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboards), Pete Farndon (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Martin Chambers (drums, backing vocals, percussion). Following the drug-related deaths of Honeyman-Scott and Farndon, the band has experienced numerous subsequent personnel changes, with Hynde as the only consistent member, and Chambers returning after an absence of several years.

Hynde launched a solo career in 2014, and The Pretenders were dormant as a band between 2012 and 2016. However, The Pretenders are once again active, having issued an album and toured in 2016.^[1]

The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005.