Upon the occasion of the Rubettes 50th Anniversary welcome to our new website.

We Are The Rubettes

Having evolved several times during their iconic career the Rubettes are now at the pinnacle of their 50 years of Rock n’ Roll. The hits such as ‘Sugar Baby Love’, ‘Tonight’, ‘Jukebox Jive’, ‘I Can Do It’, ‘Baby I Know’ and ‘Ooh La La’, to name but a few, are legendary, as are the instantly recognisable White Suits and Caps. From their not-so-humble beginnings in 1974, after having taken the world by storm with their very first worldwide number-one hit record ‘Sugar Baby Love’ the majority of the original members of the band have since come and gone resulting in there having been several Rubettes line-ups, involving the musical attributes of no less than 15 separate musicians, during their long history culminating with the Rubettes of today. The original group of musicians whose demeanour and collective talents spawned those memorable hits of yesteryear have all since departed except for one, the instantly recognisable, frontman and lead vocalist, Alan Williams. Only he has remained throughout. Close your eyes, it’s like nothing has changed, and all is as it should be. Memories are made of this, The ‘Rubettes’ 2024.

At this stage of their career and long after having established themselves as being one of the most successful iconic bands of the seventies it would be crass of us to describe the Rubettes and what they represent now as being and providing anything other than pure golden era nostalgia. The teenage fan adulation has long gone having been replaced by the longings of discerning music lovers of all ages who crave to be transported back for a glimpse of and maybe a memory rekindled to when it all started. At this moment in time, where the Rubettes are now, as with many of their contemporaries, can be perfectly and thoughtfully summed up in the inimitable words of one of Alan’s favourite singers, Don Henley of the Eagles, who said “It’s now, all about the songs and what they mean to you”.

How The Rubettes Came To Be

In around October 1973, Polydor Records (now part of Universal Music) commissioned a series of recording sessions using several session musicians which produced some demo recordings amongst which was a then-unknown song called ‘Sugar Baby Love’. The writers and producers, Wayne Bickerton and Tony Waddington sent this and other songs out to various established recording artists with a view to having them record one or other of the songs for future release.  There were no takers. Undaunted they, along with Polydor, believed that the ‘demo’, because that was what it was, of Sugar Baby Love had captured that certain ‘something’, which gave it ‘hit’ potential and decided to release it as it was but first, having been recorded, not by a band, but by nameless studio musicians, they needed to find or form a band with which to promote the record. Obviously, the musicians who actually participated in the recording were the first to be approached but of them, only three were interested and available, John Richardson, Alan Williams and Peter Arnesen. Then, having settled on the nucleus of the band, three more musicians previously known to John and Alan were recruited to complete the line-up, namely Tony Thorpe, Mick Clarke and Bill Hurd, and so it was, in December 1973 the Rubettes came to be although it wasn’t until January 1974 that an image for the band was eventually suggested by Polydor having arranged for the Rubettes first photo session. As can be seen it was a million miles from the image the Rubettes eventually adopted being discarded shortly after the photo session, primarily due to the fact that nobody liked the idea of having to live with permanently Brylcreem’d hair.

In February 1974 the Sugar Baby Love single was released in the UK but to little acclaim and in the weeks that followed struggled to make any impact on the charts. This resulted in there being no other country to show interest in releasing it. Then in April, with ‘Sugar Baby Love’ still hovering just outside the top 50 and any hope of becoming a hit quickly fading, the Rubettes had an amazing stroke of luck which came in the form of that often-elusive big break most artists can only dream of, an appearance on the UK’s biggest Television music program ‘Top of the Pops’. It seemed a last-minute cancellation by the band ‘Sparks’ had left a void in the next show, due to be recorded in two days’ time, which had to be filled with all urgency. Never having played together before and still without an image they spent the next two days (and nights) rehearsing (a stage routine), recording (a sound track) and shopping (for that all-important image). A one-time opportunity had presented itself and they were determined to make the most of it. Such a resounding success was their performance, everybody knew there would be no looking back. Record sales of ‘Sugar Baby Love’ exploded sending it from nowhere to the top of the UK charts in double quick time and knocking Abba’s ‘Waterloo’ off the number one spot, after only one week, in the process. What followed can only be described as manic as countries around the world scrambled to release. Why it was the Rubettes were chosen to appear on that particular show, at that particular time, will probably never be known but what we do know is such was the impact of that first-ever television appearance, by a then-unknown band, the course of Rock n’ Roll history was changed forever and with the many international hit’s that followed the Rubettes immortalised themselves as one of the most popular 70’s bands of all time. 

During the Rubettes success period, having attained multiple chart entries in virtually every country, they ultimately achieved worldwide record sales of over 30 million, establishing them as one of the most successful Internationally known Artists of the Glam Rock era.   

Here are those that played a part in perpetuating the music. We thank them all.

Rubettes Line-Up. Then and Now

  • Alan Williams, Lead vocals. (1974 - 1979)

    John Richardson, Drums. (1974 - 1979)

    Tony Thorpe, Guitar. (1974 - 1979)

    Pete Arneson, Keyboards. (1974 - 1975)

    Mick Clarke, Bass. (1974 - 1979)

    Bill Hurd, Keyboards. (1974 - 1976)

    Bob Benham, Guitar. (1979 - 1979)

  • Alan Williams, Lead vocals. (1980 - 1989)

    John Richardson, Drums. (1980 - 1982)

    Mick Clarke, Bass. (1980 - 1987)

    Bill Hurd, Keyboards, (1983 - 1989)

    Alex Bines, Drums. (1983 - 1989)

    Steve Kinch, Bass. (1988 - 1989)

  • Alan Williams, Lead vocals. (1990 - 1999)

    Bill Hurd, Keyboards. (1990 - 1999)

    Alex Bines, Drums. (1990 - 1999)

    Steve Kinch, Bass. (1990 - 1992)

    Trevor Holliday, Bass. (1992 - 1993)

    Mick Clarke, Bass. (1993 - 1999)

  • Alan Williams, Lead vocals. (2000 - 2009)

    John Richardson, Drums. (2000 - 2009)

    Mick Clarke, Bass. (2000 - 2009)

    Mark Haley, Keyboards. (2000 - 2009)

  • Alan Williams, Lead vocals. (2010 - 2019)

    John Richardson, Drums. (2010 - 2018)

    Mick Clarke, Bass. (2010 - 2018)

    Mark Haley, Keyboards. (2010 - 2015/2018 - 2019)

    Steve Etherington, Keyboards. (2015 - 2018)

    Spencer Lingwood, Drums. (2018 - 2019)

    Lawrie Haley, Bass. (2018 - 2019)

    Glyn Davies, Guitar. (2018 - 2019)

  • Alan Williams, Lead vocals. (2020 - Present)

    Mark Haley, Keyboards. (2020 - Present)

    Spencer Lingwood, Drums. (2020 - Present)

    Lawrie Haley, Bass. (2020 - Present)

    Glyn Davies, Guitar. (2020 - Present)