Brett Anderson

When <a href="spotify:artist:6PHIK3kjWggLtVygsOtpqS">Suede</a> released their self-titled debut album in 1993, vocalist Brett Anderson endeared himself to U.K. critics longing for another <a href="spotify:artist:0oSGxfWSnnOXhD2fKuz2Gy">David Bowie</a> or <a href="spotify:artist:3iTsJGG39nMg9YiolUgLMQ">Morrissey</a>. 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 <a href="spotify:artist:6PHIK3kjWggLtVygsOtpqS">Suede</a> bassist Mat Osman. Anderson then formed <a href="spotify:artist:6PHIK3kjWggLtVygsOtpqS">Suede</a> with Osman and guitarists <a href="spotify:artist:28pqwEjm2WDueRWP4AjA1x">Bernard Butler</a> and Justine Frischmann, Anderson's girlfriend. Drummer Simon Gilbert joined <a href="spotify:artist:6PHIK3kjWggLtVygsOtpqS">Suede</a> in 1991, but Frischmann quit the group a year later to front the band <a href="spotify:artist:3l14gV4hIMAjmo7KUvEWTx">Elastica</a>. Even before <a href="spotify:artist:6PHIK3kjWggLtVygsOtpqS">Suede</a>'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 <a href="spotify:artist:3iTsJGG39nMg9YiolUgLMQ">Morrissey</a>'s homoerotic posturing with <a href="spotify:artist:0oSGxfWSnnOXhD2fKuz2Gy">Bowie</a>'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 <a href="spotify:artist:6olE6TJLqED3rqDCT0FyPh">Nirvana</a>'s <a href="spotify:artist:6pAuTi6FXi6qFQJ1dzMXQs">Kurt Cobain</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:1w5Kfo2jwwIPruYS2UWh56">Pearl Jam</a>'s <a href="spotify:artist:0mXTJETA4XUa12MmmXxZJh">Eddie Vedder</a>. Although the departure of songwriting partner <a href="spotify:artist:28pqwEjm2WDueRWP4AjA1x">Butler</a> in 1994 led many to fear <a href="spotify:artist:6PHIK3kjWggLtVygsOtpqS">Suede</a>'s eventual demise, the band continued to release critically and commercially successful albums in the U.K.

<a href="spotify:artist:6PHIK3kjWggLtVygsOtpqS">Suede</a> split in the wake of 2002's A New Morning and Anderson unexpectedly reunited with <a href="spotify:artist:28pqwEjm2WDueRWP4AjA1x">Butler</a> for <a href="spotify:artist:5eTZsi8vuwdtA0SLEe3GZl">the Tears</a>, 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 <a href="spotify:artist:6PHIK3kjWggLtVygsOtpqS">Suede</a> 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, Rovi