Reckless, english edition

Chrissie Hynde was born in Akron, OH, in 1951. She moved to London in the mid-1970s and formed The Pretenders in 1978. The band had a number one with their classic 'Brass in Pocket' in January 1980, going on to produce two critically acclaimed albums before the death of James Honeyman-Scott in 1982, followed by bassist Pete Farndon a year later. Chrissie continued to make music with The Pretenders featuring various line ups, as well as collaborating with a range of musicians, including Frank Sinatra, Sheryl Crow and UB40. Chrissie released her first solo album, Stockholm , in 2014. She has two daughters and lives in London.

By the time she was 14, Chrissie Hynde knew she had to get out of Akron, Ohio. Her perfect '50s American childhood upturned by a newly acquired taste for rock 'n' roll, motorbikes and the 'get down boys' seen at gigs in and around Cleveland - Mitch Ryder, the Jeff Beck Group, the Velvet Underground and David Bowie among the many.

Wrapped up in the Kent State University riots and getting dangerously involved in the local biker and drug scenes, she escaped - to Mexico, Canada, Paris and finally London where she caught the embryonic punk scene just in time not only to witness it first-hand, but more importantly to seize the opportunity to form her own band, the Pretenders.

Iggy Pop, the Sex Pistols, the Clash, Vivienne & Malcolm, Ray Davies ... on every page household names mingle with small town heroes as we shift from bedroom to biker HQ; from squat to practice room; from pub gig to Top Of The Pops - the long and crooked path to stardom, and for the Pretenders, ultimately, tragedy.

That Chrissie Hynde is alive to tell the tale is, by her own admission, something of a miracle. Throughout she is brutally honest, wryly humorous and always highly entertaining. She has written one of the most evocative and colourful music memoirs to be published in recent years.

A powerful and uncompromising memoir from one of rock's most charismatic stars