Brett Anderson

Brett Anderson
Background information
Birth name	Brett Lewis Anderson
Born	29 September 1967 (1967-09-29) (age 42)
Origin	Haywards Heath, England
Genres	Alternative rock, Britpop
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Piano, Guitar
Years active	1989–present
Labels	Drowned In Sound
Associated acts	Suede The Tears
Website	www.BrettAnderson.co.uk

Brett Lewis Anderson (born 29 September 1967) is an English singer-songwriter, best-known as the former lead vocalist of Britpop band Suede. After Suede disbanded, he fronted The Tears, who are currently on indefinite hiatus. Anderson has also released three solo albums.

Early years: 1967-1988

Born in Haywards Heath, West Sussex, England, Anderson spent much of his childhood playing sports and practicing hair styles.

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.

Suede: 1989-2003

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. His infamous comment that he was "a bisexual man who never had a homosexual experience" was indicative of how he both courted controversy and a sexually ambiguous, alienated audience. 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 appeared 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".

The Tears: 2004-2005

In 2004, after resolving their differences, Anderson and former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler formed the band The Tears with Will Foster, Makoto Sakamoto and Nathan Fisher and released their debut album Here Come The Tears, which was met with mixed critical and popular reactions. 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.

Solo work: 2006-present

In May 2006, Anderson announced details of a solo album consisting of 11 tracks, which was released on 26 March 2007. He told NME that the title would 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. The keyboardist-producer on his album is Fred Ball, and former Suede bass player Mat Osman joined the live band on tour.

In July 2007 Brett Anderson modelled Nick Hart for Aquascutum's autumn/winter 2007 campaign photos on wallpaper.com

In May 2008 it was announced that Anderson's second album was to be premiered on 7 July in a special concert at London's mermaid theatre. A free copy of the album, entitled Wilderness, was given to all ticket buyers, in the form of a USB stick. The album was recorded in only seven days, with most tracks recorded as live takes. He plays the piano and the acoustic guitars, and is accompanied by Amy Langley on cello. One of the songs "Back to You" written with Fred Ball of the Norwegian band Pleasure is a duet with French actress Emmanuelle Seigner.

Brett's third album, Slow Attack is being co-written with Leo Abrahams. [1]On his website, Brett Anderson writes that he tried to use words in a different way, as fragments, and hint of meanings and emotions - the music is more orchestral than Wilderness. A preview of Slow Attack as a medley is available to listen to on Brett Anderson's website as well as his official youtube channel.

Solo discography

Studio albums

• Brett Anderson (26 March 2007) - (UK #54)^[1]
• Wilderness (1 September 2008) - (UK #161, UK Indie Chart #16)^[2][3]
• Slow Attack (2 November 2009) - (UK #174)^[4]

Live albums

• Live in London (9 May 2007) (Limited Edition of 1500)
• Live at Union Chapel (19 July 2007) (Limited Edition of 1500)
• Live at Queen Elizabeth Hall (20 October 2007) (Limited Edition of 1500)

Singles & EPs

• "Love Is Dead" (19 March 2007) - (UK #42)^[1]
• "Back to You" (EP) (9 July 2007) (Non-chart eligible)
• "A Different Place" (21 July 2008) (Digital download)
• "The Hunted" (2009) available as Digital Download

References

External links

• Official Site
• Un-Official Fan Site