ANTHONY PURE SILK BRIGHTLY

Anthony Brightly is a certified phenom – a former child prodigy who belies description and is almost impossible to pigeonhole. He was born in Hackney, East London, to serial entrepreneurial Jamaican immigrants, George and Millicent Brightly.
Growing up in 1970s Britain, Anthony was one of the first generation of children of West Indian parentage who would later become known as The Windrush Generation. During these turbulent social times, this new immigrant community navigated the British system by creating a hybrid of the British culture infused with the various West Indian cultures from the islands.
His father ran a sound system called Sir George which afforded the young Brightly great exposure to the music industry and the day's leading artists. Still at school, he became the keyboard player in the band Black Slate with four school mates.
Meanwhile his Father’s Sound System promotions had morphed into running Clubs like The Queen Bee, 007, Sun Valley Club (Cubies), and All Nations. A hiatus from clubland saw him concentrating on his supermarket and other businesses but the allure of the music was never far as Brightly senior then opened Club Noreik in East London.
Brightly Junior was soaking up his father’s business acumen and love for music at every turn. He would eventually take over the Sir George sound system steering it to become one of the best known purveyors of what would become known as the Lovers Rock movement.
It was in this guise that Anthony promoted a dance to showcase both his band, Black Slate and the Sir George sound system at his father’s club with the leading North London set of the day, Fatman High Power.
The younger sound system were thoroughly chastened on their debut outing but the defeat ushered Anthony and crew into the Studio to create their own exclusive Dub Plates.
The result was two tracks - an instrumental, Piano Twist – a direct answer to Fatman, and the second was what would become the seminal Roots anthem, ‘Sticksman’.
Penned because of Anthony’s disapproval of the era of the Sticksman (pickpocket), the line “If you teef from Black, you will teef from White”, resonated with both rootsmen and punk rockers who hailed the single as a social commentary anthem in 1977.
Black Slate would now become an early pioneer of the UK based Roots Reggae scene alongside the likes of Steel Pulse, Misty In Roots and Aswad. 'Sticks Man' reportedly sold over a million copies all over Europe.
As well as being a self-contained band, Black Slate guided by their manager, Brightly senior, also provided live backing for a number of visiting reggae artists including Delroy Wilson, Errol Dunkley, Leroy Smart, The Heptones, Dennis Brown and Johnny Clarke. In the studio, they would also be the band of choice for sessions resulting in anthems like Pablo Gad’s ‘Hard Times’ and Carroll Thompson’s ‘I’m So Sorry’. A few years later they broke the colour barrier with the ever popular 'Amigo' which propelled them to being one of the first UK based Black bands to perform on the hugely popular prime time TV show, “Top of the Pops.” It's now 1980, and after 2 million world wide sales the band go on a world tour with legendary artistes including Peter Tosh, Jimmy Cliff, and The Wailers.
Their debut album is released by the then Punk Rock label Ensign who in turn licence it to Chrysallis and then to CBS Records. Unfortunately, the band split soon after their return from the tour.
Anthony concentrated more on the family legacy by taking over his father's sound system. It had now become one of the leading purveyors of Lovers Rock. The transition from Sound System to Record label is a path well-trodden in Reggae history, so it was one that Anthony was destined to follow. The label scored hits with the likes of Toyin Adekale, Sandra Reid and Trevor Hartley.
Whilst running the sound system he also followed his father’s footsteps into clubland running venues from Oasis to Chimes via Pegasus and Maksims.
Fed up with having his label being used a launchpad for budding artists – he’d have to break new acts from scratch (building them up slowly, gaining the buying public's confidence only to witness their nonchalance) - he created an entity that could break new acts and re-introduce known artists via a recognisable body.
To this end, PURE SILK, aka Anthony Brightly was born. Their first single release 'Do You Ever Think About Me' (featuring One Destiny), in 1990, was one of the year’s best selling reggae singles. Pure Silk went on to feature established artists like Ken Boothe, Carroll Thompson, Tad Hunter, Trevor Hartley, Wendy Walker, Winsome and Winston Reedy to name but a few over four albums and numerous singles. In the late 90’s, Brightly rediscovered Christianity and married his love of the Lord with his music to create a new musical hybrid, 'Lovers Gospel'. After working with a number of soloists he moved on to recording with choirs. The world renowned L.C.G.C (London Community Gospel Choir) were the first into his east London studios, followed by an array of musical talent. Brightly continues to create passionate pieces of work fueled by his many years of excellent musicianship and faith in Christianity. He relocated to Antigua where he opened a Holiday resort and started a Festival named Dejam.
In 2013, the band reformed for their 40th Anniversary celebrations which included a performance at the Miami Reggae Festival. The band followed the triumphant by going back into the studio for the albums ‘Midnight’ and ‘Peaceful Demonstration’ with Anthony’s son Gaven Creary taking over lead vocalist duties.
By 2020, the band were fully reinstated as a touring outfit with more triumphs in the UK, US and Australasia. The next step was a short film inspired by Nina Simone’s Civil Rights anthem ‘Young Gifted & Black’ directed by Daniel Glenn Barbour. The success of that short film lead to the the creation of ‘The Sticksman Record’. In 2021 The Film was premiered to a resplendent sell-out audience who witnessed the culmination of a moment in History. The Premiere was also the catalyst for the Black Slate Golden Jubilee Tour.