Screaming Lord Sutch
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David Edward Sutch (or Screaming Lord Sutch) (November 10, 1940 – June 16, 1999) was a British musician, politician and maverick.
Musical career
In the 1960s, inspired by one of his favourite rock and roll stars, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, he changed his name to Screaming Lord Sutch, 3rd Earl of Harrow. Despite the fact that he had no connection with the peerage, the deed poll laws of England permitted this. Following a successful career as an early-'60s rock 'n' roll attraction, it became customary for the UK press and citizens to refer to him as Screaming Lord Sutch, or simply Lord Sutch. Early works included recordings produced by legendary audio pioneer Joe Meek.During the 1960s, Screaming Lord Sutch was known for his horror-themed stage show, as well as for usually dressing like Jack the Ripper, pre-dating the shock rock antics of Alice Cooper by several years. Accompanied by his band, The Savages, he often started the show by coming out of a big black coffin. Other stage props included knives and daggers, skulls, and "bodies". Sutch also booked 'themed' concert tours, such as 'Sutch and the Roman Empire', where the Sutch and the band members would be dressed up as Roman soldiers. Despite his self-confessed lack of any vocal talent, he released many horror themed singles during the early-mid 60s, the most popular and well known of which is "Jack the Ripper".
Lord Sutch's album Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends was named in a 1998 BBC poll as the worst album of all time, a status it also held in Colin Larkin's book The Top 1000 Albums of All Time, despite the fact that legends such Jimmy Page, John Bonham, Jeff Beck , Noel Redding and Nicky Hopkins among others performed on it and helped to write it.
For his follow-up album, Hands of Jack the Ripper, Sutch assembled a group of British rock celebrities for a concert at the Carlsharlton Park Rock 'n' Roll Festival. The entire show was recorded (though only Sutch knew), and after some quick editing, cutting and pasting it was released - much to everyone else's surprise! Musicians appearing on the record included Ritchie Blackmore (gtr); Matthew Fisher (kbr); Carlo Little (drm); Keith Moon (drm); Noel Redding (bss) and Nick Simper (bss).
Political activities
In the 1960s, he stood in various parliamentary elections, often standing as a representative of the 'National Teenage Party'. His first attempt to enter Parliament was in 1963, when he contested the by-election in Stratford-upon-Avon caused by the resignation of John Profumo. He gained 208 votes. His next foray was at the 1964 General Election when he stood in Harold Wilson's Huyton constituency. Here he got 518 votes.He founded the Official Monster Raving Loony Party in 1983 and fought the Bermondsey by-election. In his career he contested over 40 elections, rarely threatening the major party candidates, but often getting a respectable number of votes. He was an easily recognisable figure at election counts due to his flamboyant clothes. It was shortly after he polled several hundred votes in Margaret Thatcher's Finchley constituency in 1983 that the deposit paid by candidates was raised from £150 to £500. This did little to deter the legendary deposit-losing Lord Sutch, who increased the number of rock concerts he performed per year to pay for his mock political campaigns.
A series of adverts in the 1990s for Heineken Beers boasted that "Only Heineken can do this". One ad had Sutch at 10 Downing Street after becoming Prime Minister.
Private life
Despite his seemingly light-hearted antics, in actuality Screaming Lord Sutch suffered from bipolar disorder and ended up committing suicide by hanging on June 16, 1999, following the death of his mother the previous year.Sutch never married, but is survived by a son, Tristan Lord Gwynne Sutch, born in 1975 to the American model Thann Rendessy.[link]
In 1991, Sutch's autobiography Life as Sutch: the Official Autobiography of a Raving Looney (co-written with Peter Chippindale) was published; however, the book was recalled by publishers swiftly[[Citing sources citation needed]]. Versions are available: Angus & Robertson, ISBN: 0207172404 and HarperCollins ISBN: 0002550903.
Discography
Sutch released records from 1961 onwards. A comprehensive-looking discography can be found at [wangdangdula.com]. Later works include:
- Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends (1970)
- Hands of Jack the Ripper (1972)
- Alive and Well (Live, 1980)
- Jack the Ripper (Compilation, 19??)
- Rock & Horror (Compilation, 1982) Ace Records CDCHM 65
- Story/Screaming Lord Sutch & The Savages (Compilation, 1991)
- Live Manifesto (Live, 1992)
- Murder in the Graveyard (Live, 1992)
- Raving Loony Party Favourites (Compilation, 1996)
- Monster Rock (Compilation, 2000)
- Midnight Man (EP, 2000)
- Munster Rock (Compilation, 2001)
Elections fought
- Stratford-on-Avon by-election, 1963
- General election, 1966
- General election, 1983 (Finchley)
- Bermondsey by-election, 1983 (97 votes, 0.3%)
- Epping Forest by-election, 1988 (208 votes, 0.6%)
- Glasgow Govan by-election, 1988 (174 votes, 0.6%)
- Richmond by-election, 1989 (167 votes, 0.3%)
- Vauxhall by-election, 1989 (106 votes, 0.4%)
- Bootle by-election, 1990 (418 votes, 1.2%: better result than the rump SDP candidate)
- Mid Staffordshire by-election, 1990 (336 votes, 0.6%)
- Ribble Valley by-election, 1991 (278 votes, 0.6%)
- Newbury by-election, 1993 (432 votes, 0.7%)
- Islwyn by-election, 1995 (506 votes, 2.2%)
- Littleborough and Saddleworth by-election, 1995 (782 votes, 1.9%)
- Perth and Kinross by-election, 1995 (586 votes, 1.4%)
- Uxbridge by-election, 1997 (396 votes, 1.3%)
- Winchester by-election, 1997 (316 votes, 0.6%)
External links
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