Bette Bright with Glen Matlock on bass at the Music Machine in London, as captured by Mick Mercer in 1979.
Bette Bright released a series of new wavey-pop/reggae singles, mostly covers of 60’s girl group songs, between '78-'79 with The Illuminations, a backing band that at the time included Henry Priestman, formerly of the Yachts, Rusty Egan, a former member of the Rich Kids and the DJ at the new romantic temple Blitz, along with Glen Matlock, already an ex-Pistol and a former Rich Kid as well.
"This was around the time that Blondie broke big in the UK, so suddenly lots of singles were being released by women who sounded like Debbie Harry for a quick cash-in, but I don’t think that this was the intent with this one. Also around this time... Bette appeared on the cover of Record Mirror. She also toured around this time and was certainly starting to grab an increasing amount of people’s attention, it now only seemed to be a matter of time before she would finally have some chart success. This was followed in November 1981 by the album “Rhythm Breaks The Ice”, also featuring a few original songs, but it wasn’t a hit. By this point, Bette had started to date Graham “Suggs” McPherson, the frontman of Madness, and in 1981 they got married. They have had two children, and almost 40 years later they are still together..." adamnostalgia.wordpress.com/
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