Brett
Anderson and The Tears. Photo by Stig Nygaard
Background information
Birth name
Brett Lewis Anderson
Born
September
29, 1967 (1967-09-29)
(age 39)
Origin
Haywards Heath, West
Sussex, England,
United
Kingdom
Genre(s)
Alternative
Rock, Britpop
Occupation(s)
Singer-songwriter
Instrument(s)
Piano, Guitar
Years active
1989 -
present
Label(s)
Drowned
In Sound
Associated
acts
Suede
The
Tears
Website
http://www.brettanderson.co.uk
Brett Lewis Anderson (born September
29, 1967) is
a British
singer-songwriter, and former lead
vocalist of rock
band Suede. He then fronted The
Tears, although they are currently on indefinite hiatus, and
Anderson has now released a debut solo album.
|
Contents
- 1 Biography
- 2 Solo
discography
- 3 External
links
- 4 References
|
Biography
Born in Haywards Heath, West
Sussex, England,
Anderson spent much of his childhood playing sports and becoming a rock
star.
In his teens, Anderson played guitar for garage bands such as
The Pigs and Geoff, the latter featuring future Suede
bassist Mat
Osman. In the late-1980s, Anderson and Osman formed Suede
with Anderson's girlfriend, Justine Frischmann,
soon recruiting guitarist Bernard Butler through an
advertisement in the NME.
After receiving percussional help from former Smiths
drummer Mike
Joyce, in 1991, Simon Gilbert joined Suede
as their official drummer. It was around this time that Frischmann left
Anderson for Blur frontman Damon
Albarn, which created an early rift in the burgeoning Britpop scene of
the early 1990s.
After missing too many rehearsals and flaunting her relationship with
Albarn while still living with Anderson, Frischmann was fired from the
group, going on to front Elastica.
Even before Suede's first album appeared in stores, Anderson's
androgynous
style and vague "confessions" about his sexuality stirred controversy
in the British music press. In 1993, Suede
hit number one on the UK charts. Combining Morrissey's
homoerotic posturing with David Bowie's glam theatrics,
Anderson achieved instant fame in the UK. America, however, was still
spellbound by the grunge
revolution and Anderson's grim yodellings clashed with the raw anger of
Nirvana's
Kurt
Cobain and Pearl
Jam's Eddie
Vedder. Furthering complications across the Atlantic, due to a
trademark dispute with the American lounge singer Suede,
the band were forced to change their name to The London Suede
for the American market. Although the departure of songwriting partner
Butler in 1994
during the recording of second album Dog
Man Star (number three on the UK charts) led
many to fear Suede's eventual demise, the band continued to release
critically and commercially successful material in the UK, such as 1996's
critically-acclaimed Coming Up (another
number one of the band).
Coming Up proved
to be a last high point, as Anderson's well-publicised problems with crack
and heroin
addiction put the band on hiatus in the late 1990s. The band carried on
to release Head Music
(number one on the UK charts and in several countries) in 1999. But A
New Morning was a commercial disappointment in
2002. In 2003, after the release of their "Singles" compilation, Suede
disbanded.
Anderson has commented that the history of Suede is
"...ridiculous. It’s like Machiavelli rewriting Fear and Loathing in
Las Vegas. It involves a cast of thousands. It should star Charlton
Heston... it’s like a pram that’s just been pushed down a hill. It’s
always been fiery and tempestuous and really on the edge and it never
stops. I don’t think it ever will.”
On his own, Anderson collaborated with Stina
Nordenstam, and his guest vocals can be heard on the album This Is Stina Nordenstam
and has made a duet with Jane Birkin in 1995 which
exists in 1998 Birkin's Best Of album. He also sang the lyric "You're
going to reap just what you sow" in the Children
In Need charity single Perfect Day.
In 2004, after resolving their differences, Anderson and
former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler formed the
band The
Tears, who released a critically acclaimed debut album Here
Come The Tears. It was produced by Bernard Butler and largely recorded
at home, and featured the singles Refugees
and Lovers.
Anderson was close friends with Simon
Hobart (promoter of Popstarz) and was the DJ at the benefit night
held in Hobart's honour after his death.
In 2005, Anderson "ended speculation" when he publicly came
out as a bisexual man who has never had a homosexual experience.
This was a reference to an infamous quote from Brett in Suede's early
days.
In May 2006, Anderson announced details of a forthcoming solo
album consisting of 11 tracks, which is set for release on 26th March
2007. He told NME
that the title will be 'Brett Anderson' since
"...that's my name, you see." The accompanying video for Anderson's
first single Love Is Dead debuted on UK television
in February 2007, quickly finding its way to YouTube. Love
Is Dead made its debut at #42 in the UK singles chart, and the album
went to #54 the following week.
In July 2007 Brett Anderson modelled Nick Hart for
Aquascutum's autumn/winter 2007 campaign photos on wallpaper.com
Solo discography
Albums
- Brett Anderson
(March
26, 2007)
Chart position 54
- Brett Anderson: Live
in London (May 9, 2007) Limited Edition of 1500
- Brett Anderson: Live At Union Chapel (Acoustic
Performance Recorded in London) July 19, 2007 Limited Edition of 1500
Singles
- Love Is Dead (March 19, 2007) Chart position 42
- Back to You EP
(July, 2007)
External links
Albums: Brett Anderson
(2007) ·
Live in London
(2007)
Singles: Love
Is Dead (2007) ·
Back to You
(2007)
References
