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.

Lord Sutch was born on November 10, 1940, but 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 60s, Screaming Lord Sutch was known for his horror themed stage show, as well as for usually dressing like Jack the Ripper. 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". He released many horror themed singles during the early-mid 60s, the most popular and well known of which is "Jack the Ripper". Image:Screaming Lord Sutch performing.jpg He founded the Official Monster Raving Loony Party in 1983 and fought the Bermondsey byelection. In his career he contested over 40 elections, rarely threatening the major party candidates, but often getting a respectable number of votes. His first attempt to enter Parliament was in 1963, when he contested the byelection in Stratford-upon-Avon caused by the resignation of John Profumo. 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 legendarily 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.

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. His follow-up album, Hands of Jack the Ripper, also featured many of the same legends and big name musicians from the previous effort, but this time also included Ritchie Blackmore, Keith Moon, and Matthew Fisher.

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.

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