Jennie Matthias

Jennie’s musical career after leaving The Belle Stars has, to say the least, been wide and varied and spans over 20 years. Jennie's worked with so many different artists, created several bands and still writes music in her own right today. She’s currently in 1-STOP-EXPERIENCE, a new gigging band and they hope to release an album in the very new future.

She formed Dance Like a Mother with Melissa Ritter formerly of The Modettes not long after leaving The Belle Stars and released two fantastic singles.  She guest appeared on ‘The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had to Swallow) with The Jam while still in The Belle Stars, which reached No. 1 in the Charts in 1982. 

She’s performed with Pigface, Gary Clail, Meg Lee Chin, Sounds From the Ground, The Trojans, Jump with Joey and Judge Dread, (not necessarily in that order!)  

Jennie also appeared in a couple of Belle Stars PA’s with Lesley Bellestar and appeared on the Here & Now Concert 2002. She also recorded solo material as RedJen around the time she was performing with Meg Lee Chin and Pigface.

She performed in the SkaDivas with Rhoda Dakar and Pauline Black, original ladies of 2-Tone.

Jennie also formed a band called Big 5 with Nick Welsh, formerly of Bad Manners and they released a couple of ska-punk albums.  She has continued to perform with Nick as a guest performer with his new band Skaville UK and also played the festivals in 2008 in Skacoustic, which also included Rhoda Dakar.

On a non musical note, Jennie’s worked with disadvantaged children, set up a project called
S-teem and has facilitated workshops for drug awareness campaigns including the Army.

More recently, Jennie has taken to myspace with a vengeance and this avenue has helped her create new musical partnerships and work with other myspace artists, such as The Radiostars, Hot 2 Go, The Inhabitants and The Gonads.

Jennie formed The Dance Brigade last year with Dave Barker (Double Barrel), Lee Thompson (Madness), Debbie Barker and Keith Finch (JA13-Crown of Thorns). They played a one-off gig last year and released a limited edition CD.

It’s difficult to sum up the last 20 or so years of Jennie’s musical career but I hope the links to the left provide a bit more information.