Martin Chambers

Martin Dale Chambers (born 4 September 1951) is an English musician, who is best known as a founding member and drummer of the rock band the Pretenders. In addition to playing the drums with the group, Chambers sings backing vocals (lead vocals on the song "Fast or Slow (The Law's the Law)", the B-side of the singles "2000 Miles" and "Show Me", which he also wrote) and plays percussion. He was part of the original band line-up which also included Chrissie Hynde (vocals/guitar), James Honeyman-Scott (guitar/vocals/keyboards) and Pete Farndon (bass guitar/vocals). Hynde and Chambers are the only two surviving original members, and he has served two separate tenures with the group.

Prior to joining the as yet unnamed Pretenders, Chambers played with James Honeyman-Scott in Cheeks, a band led by former Mott the Hoople keyboardist Verden Allen. At the time Chambers joined the yet unnamed band in 1978, he was working as a driving instructor in Tufnell Park, London where he had got a job with the British School of Motoring "because it came with a car so I could get about" and because of that he found where Jim and Pete were living and then replaced Jerry Mackleduff on drums (Uncut, 1999). At Chambers's first rehearsal with the group, Hynde recalled: "We plugged in and started playing "Precious", and I remember clearly, I had to turn around and face the wall, I was laughing so hard, because as soon as Martin started playing with us, I knew this was it. We had the band." (Uncut, 1999). Martin also recalled the rehearsal "We knew it straight away. We just locked in." (Rhino Entertainment Company, 2006).

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