Chrissie Hynde doesn’t think of herself as a “great musician”.
The 73-year-old rock star is best known as a founding member of The Pretenders and currently features in the lineup alongside Martin Chambers, James Walbourne, Kris Sonne, and Dave Page but even though they have sold more than 130 million records worldwide since their debut in 1979, but she has recaled being “too shy” when it all began.
Shr told The Guitarist: “She told The Guitarist: “I’m not going to be self-effacing, but I’m not a great musician, I know that.
“Well, because when I first started playing, I was too shy to go with the guys in the art room and play so I just had this foresight, like most people who end up writing songs, just to be on my own and write something.”
In the joint interview, James was quick to disagree with his bandmate and dismissed her claims as a load of rubbish as he insisted that Chrissie is in fact a “great musician” despite what she thinks of herself..
He said: “Yeah, but hold on a minute. See, I hear this and I can’t actually… because that’s quite a load of bollocks because you are a great musician and you say that too often.
“You do yourself down – because Chrissie’s guitar playing holds the band together and it’s fantastic. It’s the rhythm playing, it’s unique in a great way.”
Chrissie has written more than 150 songs as part of her time with the ‘Brass In Pocket’ hitmakers, but revealed she initially resisted collaborating with James on any compositions when he joined as lead guitarist in 2008.
She said: “I resisted trying to write anything with James, for the first I don’t know how many years we’ve been working together, because I know he was great on stage and I knew he was a real hotshot guitar hero, so that’s mission accomplished already.
“I thought ‘what if we do try to write together and it just doesn’t work?’ I thought it could kind of f**k things up a little bit. It really scared me for years.”