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Bette Bright (born Catherine Anne Martin 23 December 1953) is an English rock singer. [1]
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Bette Bright (born Catherine Anne Martin 23 December 1953) is an English rock singer. [1]
Anne Martin was born in Tankerton. [2] She lived at Tankerton Road, [3] with elder sister Alanah. Her father was Malcolm Martin. [4] She attended Rochester Grammar School, with A-levels in English, French, and Art. Afterwards she attended Notre Dame College of Education, in Liverpool. [5]
Anne Martin married to Graham McPherson aka Suggs, lead singer of Madness in 1981.
Her sister Alanah, who became a broadcaster and scriptwriter for the BBC, was born 17 January 1952; Alanah died in October 2012 of pancreatic cancer. Her husband was Keith Porritt.
| This section of a biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification .(March 2018) |
In the late 1970s, Bright was a singer for the art rock band Deaf School. [6] After Deaf School disbanded, Bright went solo with her backing band, 'The Illuminations'. [6] Band members were Henry Priestman (formerly with band Yachts), Rusty Egan (Visage) and Glen Matlock (Sex Pistols). Their single debut, a cover of "My Boyfriend's Back" in 1978, was followed by another cover, "Captain of Your Ship", which became a minor airplay hit. [6]
Bright's third single, "Hello, I Am Your Heart", dropped the Illuminations from the billing, and was her only chart hit. [6] Issued in February 1980, the track entered the UK Singles Chart and spent a week at No. 50. [7]
Featured on the single (and receiving credit on the sleeve) was Lee 'Kix' Thompson on saxophone. Around this same time, Bright (using her birth name, Anne Martin) spent a while as singer of Dutch band Gruppo Sportivo, and she also appeared in Malcolm McLaren's Sex Pistols film, The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle .[ citation needed ]
In 1981, she issued the album Rhythm Breaks the Ice, [8] which featured songs she had written herself, but also classics like "Shoorah, Shoorah" as well as new interpretations of songs by Deaf School. [6] Her backing band on this album - still called The Illuminations - was completely different from the group on her earlier singles, and had a similar line-up to Clive Langer & the Boxes: Clive Langer (guitar/sitar), Ian Broudie (lead guitar), James Eller (bass); Jo Allen (drums); and Ben Barson, brother of Madness keyboardist Mike Barson (keyboards). [6] Martin Hughes subbed for Allen on two cuts; Clive Langer & The Boxes consisted of Langer, Eller, Barson and Hughes. The album was produced by Clanger/Winstanley.
Working with Barson, Langer and Alan Winstanley, Bright got to know Madness, and she and Madness singer Suggs, fell in love. They married in 1982, and she retired. [6] She appeared in 1984 as a homeless person in the music video of "One Better Day" by Madness and rejoined her fellow Deaf School members for a reunion and a live album in 1988.
In 1992, she provided spoken word on "Walk You Home", a track on Tim Finn's fourth album, Before & After . In recent years, she has joined the reformed Deaf School for one-off appearances. In December 2007, at The O2 venue Indigo2 for Madness' aftershow party, the band were joined on stage by her daughters, who sang backing vocals. She also sang with her husband, Suggs. Bright reunited with Deaf School once again in December 2009, for a selection of UK dates in London and Liverpool, including a date at the 100 Club.
Madness are an English ska and pop band from Camden Town, north west London, who formed in 1976. One of the most prominent bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s two-tone ska revival, they continue to perform with six of the seven members of their original line-up. Madness's most successful period was from 1980 to 1986, when the band's songs spent a total of 214 weeks on the UK Singles Chart, holding the record along with English reggae group UB40 for most weeks spent by a group in the UK singles chart during the 1980s.
Graham McPherson, known primarily by his stage name Suggs, is a British singer-songwriter, musician, radio personality and actor.
Absolutely is the second studio album from the British ska band Madness. The album reached number 2 in the UK album charts.
7 is the third studio album by the English ska and pop band Madness. Released in October 1981, it peaked at No. 5 on the UK Albums Chart. All but one track was recorded at Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas in the summer of 1981, the exception being "Grey Day" which was recorded in London earlier in the year. Although in 2011 co-producer Alan Winstanley stated in the Guided Tour of Madness boxed-set that much of the album was re-recorded in London when they returned from Nassau.
Michael Barson is a British multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and composer. In a career spanning 45 years, Barson came to prominence in the late 1970s as the keyboard player for the band Madness.
The Rise & Fall is the fourth studio album by English ska band Madness, released on 5 November 1982 by Stiff Records. This album saw Madness at their most experimental, exhibiting a range of musical styles including jazz, English music hall, and Eastern influences. NME described it at the time of its release as "the best Madness record". It has often been retrospectively described as a concept album.
Mad Not Mad is the sixth studio album by the English ska and pop band Madness. It was released on 30 September 1985, their first release on their own label Zarjazz, a sub-label of Virgin Records. The album was recorded over a period of two months in 1985 at Westside Studios and at AIR Studios, both in London. The album was their last recording of original material until they officially reformed in 1992.
Wonderful is the seventh studio album by the British band Madness, released on 1 November 1999. It was the band's first studio album in fourteen years since Mad Not Mad in 1985, and also the first to feature their classic seven-piece line-up since 1984's Keep Moving. The album saw Madness reunite with their original production team, Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley, who had produced all of the band's previous work.
The Dangermen Sessions, Vol. 1 is a cover album and the eighth studio album by the British ska band Madness, released in 2005. The album reached No. 11 in the UK which at the time was their highest chart position in the UK since 1984's Keep Moving.
"House of Fun" is a song by English ska/pop group Madness, credited to Mike Barson and Lee Thompson. It was released as a one-off single on 14 May 1982 and reached number one in the UK Singles Chart, spending nine weeks in the charts. The song was re-released in 1992, reaching number 40. It is the band's only number one single in the UK and in 2015 the British public voted it as the nation's 8th favourite 1980s number one in a poll for ITV.
Clive Langer is an English record producer and songwriter, active from the mid-1970s onwards.
Deaf School is an English art rock/new wave band, formed in Liverpool, England, in January 1974.
Madstock! is the first live album by ska/pop band Madness, released on 2 November 1992 by Go! Discs. The album includes highlights from Madness' first concerts since their disbanding in 1986, on 8 and 9 August 1992 at Finsbury Park in London. The bill included Flowered Up, Gallon Drunk, Ian Dury and The Blockheads, Morrissey and Madness.
Complete Madness is the first greatest hits album by ska/pop group Madness. It was released in 1982 and included Madness' biggest hits from their first three studio albums and the stand-alone singles. Complete Madness spent 99 weeks on the UK charts, peaking at number 1.
"One Better Day" is a song by English ska band Madness from their fifth studio album Keep Moving (1984). The song, written by Suggs and Mark Bedford, was released as a single in the United Kingdom, and spent seven weeks in the charts peaking at number 18.
The Liberty of Norton Folgate is the ninth studio album by the British band Madness, released on 18 May 2009. The band worked on the album for close to three years and it was their first album of new material since 1999's Wonderful.
One Step Beyond... is the debut studio album by the British ska-pop group Madness, released by Stiff Records. Recorded and mixed in about three weeks, the album peaked at number two and remained on the UK Albums Chart for more than a year. The album has received much critical praise. It was ranked 90th in a 2005 survey held by British television station Channel 4 to determine the 100 greatest albums of all time.
A Guided Tour of Madness is a 3-CD/1-DVD anthology box set by English band Madness, released in 2011 on Union Square Music's collector's label Salvo. It features 70 singles and album tracks and an exclusive DVD of the band's comeback concert at the Madstock festival in August 1992. It also includes a booklet with interviews with the band, photos, the cartoon Nutty Comic (1981) and the Madness Map of Camden, the band's historic stomping ground. With the exception of "Sweetest Girl," "Sorry," and "The Harder They Come," every one of the band's 34 singles to date is represented.
Forever Young: The Ska Collection is a compilation album by English band Madness, released in 2012 by Salvo/Union Square Music as part of their re-issues of the Madness back catalogue. The album consists of a selection of the band's ska sounding songs, including singles, b-sides and album tracks. In addition to the classic Madness tracks, the album contains two previously unreleased covers: Jimmy Cliff's "Vietnam" and Edvard Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King". Both of these bonus tracks were originally recorded for the 2005 Madness album The Dangermen Sessions Vol. 1. The album includes a fold-out poster booklet with liner notes by Record Collector's Ian McCann, including new interviews with guitarist Chris Foreman and saxophonist Lee Thompson. Foreman said of the album: "It was our take on ska, and the songs on this album have ska as their basis. Not all are full-on; I wanted it to be called The Ska and Reggae Collection, but The Ska Collection it is."
Can't Touch Us Now is the eleventh studio album by the British band Madness, released on their Lucky 7 Records label through Universal Music Catalogue (UMC) on 28 October 2016. The album marked the return of founder member Mark Bedford but the departure of Cathal Smyth.
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