Born in the South Wales coal mining valleys, and now based in the somewhat different landscape of New York City, Rod Thomas – known professionally as Bright Light Bright Light – has carved out quite the career for himself. Hugely influenced by music and cinema from the 80s and 90s, he creates music described as “cinematic glorious euphoria” (DJ Times Magazine) and “fabulous” (Elton John), while exuding “Working Girl-era realness” (Rolling Stone).
His entire career has been as an independent artist (save one single on the short-lived Popjustice Hi-Fi label), but he has achieved reach that few major label artist succeed. He has won fans of, and recorded with many of his biggest musical icons – Sir Elton John (4 songs together), Erasure, all Scissor Sisters members, Justin Vivian Bond, Niki Haris and Donna De Lory of Madonna fame to name but a few – and toured opening for living legend Cher, Ellie Goulding, John Grant, and then from his list of collaborators, Erasure, Scissor Sisters (on their last tour) and Sir Elton John who he spent a year and half on the road with, playing 55 shows together.
He has released 4 studio albums to date: 2012’s ‘Make Me Believe In Hope’, 2014’s ‘Life Is Easy’, 2016’s ‘Choreography’ – which won him WINQ Magazine’s musician of the year award and saw him become the first – and to date, only – unsigned artist to perform on Graham Norton’s BBC One TV show with Sir Elton John in tow, and 2020’s ‘Fun City’ which was UK #1 Dance Album featuring 12 LGBTQ+ collaborators.
He released his debut film score in 2023 for ‘All Man: The International Male Story’ while in 2020, 11 of his songs soundtracked the cult hit web series ‘The Disappointments’. Prior to that, he began his flirtation with composition for moving image writing the theme for UK Comedy legend Mark Gatiss’ BBC 4 Talking Heads series ‘Queers’ which also appeared at The Old Vic for a special event.
Alongside his artist work, his love of pop culture blossoms in the form of his hugely active DJ profile. In NYC he runs the weekly Time Out NY Recommended ‘Romy & Michele’s Saturday Tea Dance’ at actor Alan Cumming’s space Club Cumming. Elsewhere, he has DJd Pride events across the world and high profile music festivals including Bestival and Glastonbury. He has also DJd at renowned US art institutions MOMA in NYC and Smithsonian in Washington DC.
He has also written songs for Bananarama and RuPaul’s Drag Race alumni Scarlet Envy and Tia Kofi, remixed alumni Jujubee, Katya and Miz Cracker, and pop legends Dannii Minogue, Bananarama and Erasure. On TikTok and Instagram, his mashups have won him a legion of fans, where his encyclopedic musical brain weaves songs of all genres in and out of each other.
For him, music is about connection. He uses his shows and DJ sets to raise money and awareness for many LGBTQ+ and humanitarian causes, having contributed thousands of dollars in 2020 to The Trevor Project, Ali Forney Center, HMI, ACLU, For The Gworls and local independent LGBTQ+ businesses to help them survive and thrive. He runs his own label YSKWN! which also acts as an umbrella connecting and amplifying LGBTQ+ voices in the arts and local businesses.
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