Namesakes #32: Suede

Suede were one of the first acts I thought about when I started this feature, so I'm not sure why it's taken me 32 weeks to get to them. Brett Anderson is famously pissed off with his band having to be called "The London Suede" in America due to the protestations of a Baltimore jazz singer. Turns out they're not the only two artists to have used the name...

SUEDE #1

On Big O Records in Wilmington, North Carolina, give it up for the funky soul beats of Suede, coming at you all the way from 1975...

SUEDE #2

We'll call these guys the Canadian Suede, if only because the track below seems to have only been released in that country, in 1982. It was written by Keith Cheatham, who would later join the Ohio band Sun. Which is as far as my research goes, but this is also pretty funky...

SUEDE #3

Here's the Suede that defeated Brett Anderson in court and won the right to use the name in the US. Despite only being a local Baltimore performer with a limited discography, Suzanne deBronkart took on the might of Sony in the early 90s and won the right to be called Suede in America. Respect where it's due.

SUEDE #4

Brett Anderson, Bernard Butler and Justine Frischmann formed the basis of the Suede everyone knows back in the late 80s. Justine and Bernard went off to do other things, leaving only Brett and bassist Mat Osman (brother of TV host and author Richard Osman). They've recruited well over the years, including guitarist Richard Oakes, who co-wrote many of the band's biggest hits.

But you knew all that, didn't you?

Here's my favourite Suede song, with a young Keeley Hawes in the video...

Can you per-SUEDE me which Suede deserves the name?