Brighten is a 3-piece pop rock band from Chico, California. Formed in 2004. It is made up of Justin Richards (guitar and lead vocals), Jimmy Richards (drums), and Alex Draper (bassist and backing vocals). In high school, they went by the name Sincerely Me. But after high school, they changed their name to Brighten after a minor conflict.

They released their debut album, Ready When You Are, on November 9, 2005. In 2007, their debut album King vs. Queen was released on Carbon Copy Media without the band really knowing.

In 2008, Jimmy Richards earned enough money to go to Africa and minister African children. He announced that he would continue playing drums once he came back to America. So he was temporarily replaced by the fromer Parade the Day drummer Ben Spear, and also Loren Brinton at a certain point of time.

Around 2008 or 2009, Justin Richards joined A Rocket to the Moon as the lead guitarist which put Brighten on a temporary hiatus. On their myspace in May 2009, Brighten said that they would go to the studio the next month to record some new material with the producer Jeff Schneeweis.

They released the EP Be Human on March 23, 2010. And in February 2013, Brighten released their second album Peace & Quiet.