When
Suede released their self-titled debut album in 1993, vocalist
Brett Anderson endeared himself to U.K. critics longing for another
David Bowie or
Morrissey. Born in Haywards Heath, England on September 29, 1967,
Anderson spent much of his childhood playing sports but fantasized about becoming a rock star. In his teens, he played guitar for garage bands such as the Pigs and Geoff, the latter featuring future
Suede bassist
Mat Osman.
Anderson then formed
Suede with
Osman and guitarists
Bernard Butler and
Justine Frischmann,
Anderson's girlfriend. Drummer
Simon Gilbert joined
Suede in 1991, but
Frischmann quit the group a year later to front the band
Elastica. Even before
Suede's first album appeared in stores,
Anderson's vague confessions about his sexuality stirred up controversy in the British press. In 1993, Suede hit number one on the U.K. charts. Combining
Morrissey's homoerotic posturing with
Bowie's glam theatrics,
Anderson achieved instant fame in England. America, however, was still spellbound by the grunge revolution and
Anderson's melancholic, over-the-top vocals clashed with the raw anger of
Nirvana's
Kurt Cobain and
Pearl Jam's
Eddie Vedder. Although the departure of songwriting partner
Butler in 1994 led many to fear
Suede's eventual demise, the band continued to release critically and commercially successful albums in the U.K.
Suede split in the wake of 2002's A New Morning and
Anderson unexpectedly reunited with
Butler for
the Tears, releasing an album --
Here Come the Tears -- in 2005. This reunion was short-lived, and
Anderson launched a solo career afterward, releasing three progressively quieter albums in the next three years:
Brett Anderson in 2007,
Wilderness in 2008 and
Slow Attack in 2009. He returned to rock in a big way in the new decade, reuniting
Suede in 2010 and touring the band into the next year. In 2011, he released
Black Rainbows, his hardest-rocking solo album to date, in the fall. ~ Michael Sutton