Chrissie Hynde "always regretted" her guest appearance in Friends because it ruined her anonymity on the school run

Chrissie, 74, was oblivious to the sitcom - which ran from 1994 until 2004 - until Warner Records asked her to sing Angel of the Morning on an album to accompany the release of Friends.

In a fan Q+A for The Guardian, The Pretenders frontwoman explained: "I'd never heard of it, but Warners were putting out an album to accompany this new show and asked me for a song, Angel of the Morning.

"Then Friends asked me if I could sit in the background in a coffee shop playing it. I got to go to Los Angeles for a week and see my friend but I didn't know they'd written a whole part for me."

Chrissie knew that Friends would go on to become a global hit after it was publicised everywhere.

The Brass in Pocket hitmaker continued: "Then Friends was on the cover of every American magazine. I thought, 'Oh f***, this is gonna be big.'"

As well as Lisa, 62, Chrissie said its other cast members, including Jennifer Aniston, 56, David Schwimmer, 59, Matt Le Blanc, 58, Courteney Cox, 61, the late Matthew Perry, as well as the show's crew were "really nice".

But what she did not like about doing Friends was that it caused people to recognise her when she took her two daughters - Natalie, 42, whom she has from her previous relationship with The Kinks lead singer Ray Davies, 81, and Yasmin, 40, whom she has with her 66-year-old ex-husband, Simple Minds frontman Jim Kerr - to school.

Five-time Grammy nominee Chrissie said: "I always regretted it because until then I could take my kids to school and nobody knew who I was.

"Afterwards, all the kids were saying, 'Your mom's on Friends!'"