Screaming Lord Sutch (born David Edward Sutch, 10 November 1940 – 16 June 1999) was an English musician and perennial parliamentary candidate. He was the founder of the

Official Monster Raving Loony Party The Official Monster Raving Loony Party (OMRLP) is a political party established in the United Kingdom in 1982 by the musician David Sutch, also known as Screaming Lord Sutch, 3rd Earl of Harrow, or simply Lord Sutch. It is notable for its de ...

and served as its leader from 1983 to 1999, during which time he stood in numerous parliamentary elections. He holds the record for contesting the most Parliamentary elections: 39 between 1963 and 1997. As a singer, he variously worked with

Keith Moon Keith John Moon (23 August 1946 – 7 September 1978) was an English musician who was the drummer for the rock band the Who. Regarded as one of the greatest drummers in the history of rock music, he was noted for his unique style of playing and ...

Jeff Beck Geoffrey Arnold Beck (24 June 1944 – 10 January 2023) was an English musician. He rose to prominence as the guitarist of the rock band the Yardbirds, and afterwards founded and fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, ...

Jimmy Page James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician and producer who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the Rock music, rock band Led Zeppelin. Page began his career as a studio session musician in Lo ...

Ritchie Blackmore Richard Hugh Blackmore (born 14 April 1945) is an English lead guitarist. He was a founding member and the guitarist of Deep Purple, one of the pioneering bands of hard rock. After leaving Deep Purple in 1975, Blackmore formed the band Rainbow ...

, Rob Jevons,

Charlie Watts Charles Robert Watts (2 June 1941 – 24 August 2021) was an English musician who was the drummer of the Rolling Stones from 1963 until his death in 2021. Originally trained as a Graphic designer, graphic artist, Watts developed an interest i ...

John Bonham John Henry Bonham (31 May 1948 – 25 September 1980) was an English musician who was the drummer of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Noted for his speed, power, fast single-footed kick drumming, distinctive sound, and feel for groove, John Bonh ...

Noel Redding Noel David Redding (25 December 1945 – 11 May 2003) was an English rock musician, best known as the bass player for the Jimi Hendrix Experience and guitarist/singer for Fat Mattress. Following his departure from the Experience in 1969 a ...

, Mitch Mitchell and

Nicky Hopkins Nicholas Christian Hopkins (24 February 1944 – 6 September 1994) was an English pianist and organist. He performed on many popular and enduring British and American rock music recordings from the 1960s to the 1990s, including on songs recorde ...

, and is known for his recordings with

Joe Meek Robert George "Joe" Meek (5 April 1929 – 3 February 1967) was an English record producer and songwriter considered one of the most influential sound engineers of all time, being one of the first to develop ideas such as the recording studio a ...

including "

Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer who was active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer was also ...

" (1963).

Early life

Sutch was born at New End Hospital in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

, north London, and grew up in Harrow.

Musical career

In the 1960s, inspired by Screamin' Jay Hawkins, he changed his stage name to "Screaming Lord Sutch, 3rd Earl of Harrow", despite having no connection with the

peerage A peerage is a legal system historically comprising various hereditary titles (and sometimes Life peer, non-hereditary titles) in a number of countries, and composed of assorted Imperial, royal and noble ranks, noble ranks. Peerages include: A ...

. It later became customary for the UK press to refer to him as "Screaming Lord Sutch", or simply "Lord Sutch". During the 1960s Screaming Lord Sutch was known for his horror-themed stage show, dressing as

, pre-dating the shock rock antics of Arthur Brown and

Alice Cooper Vincent Damon Furnier (born February 4, 1948), known by his stage name Alice Cooper, is an American rock singer and songwriter whose career spans sixty years. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusion ...

. Accompanied by his band, the Savages, he started by coming out of a black coffin (once being trapped inside of it, an incident parodied in the film '' Slade in Flame''). Other props included knives and daggers, skulls and "bodies". Sutch booked themed tours, such as 'Sutch and the Roman Empire', where Sutch and the band members would be dressed up as Roman soldiers. Fellow musician

Chas McDevitt Charles James McDevitt (born 4 December 1934) is a Scottish musician who was one of the leading lights of the skiffle genre which was highly influential and popular in the United Kingdom in the mid-to-late 1950s. Biography McDevitt was born in ...

has claimed that he gave the idea for a Screamin' Jay Hawkins-inspired act to Sutch's manager Paul Lincoln after seeing Hawkins perform in New York in 1957, having already considered emulating Hawkins himself by starting his act by emerging from a silk-lined coffin but deciding that he "(didn't have) the personality to carry this off", stating that "no one in this country had heard of Hawkins until the mid-60s". Despite a self-confessed lack of vocal talent, Sutch released horror-themed singles during the early to mid-1960s, the most popular being "

". His single "The Cheat" has been cited as a proto-psychedelic recording. Early works included recordings produced by audio pioneer

In 1963 Sutch and his manager, Reginald Calvert, took over Shivering Sands Army Fort, a

Maunsell Fort The Maunsell Forts are towers built in the Thames and Mersey estuaries during the Second World War to help defend the United Kingdom. They were operated as army and navy forts, and named for their designer, Guy Maunsell. The forts were decomm ...

off Southend, and in 1964 started Radio Sutch, intending to compete with other

pirate radio Pirate radio is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license, whether an invalid license or no license at all. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are rec ...

stations such as

Radio Caroline Radio Caroline is a British radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly and Allan Crawford, initially to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopol ...

. Broadcasts consisted of music and Mandy Rice-Davies reading ''

Lady Chatterley's Lover ''Lady Chatterley's Lover'' is the final novel by English author D. H. Lawrence, which was first published privately in 1928, in Florence, Italy, and in 1929, in Paris, France. An unexpurgated edition was not published openly in the United Ki ...

''. Sutch tired of the station, and sold it to Calvert, after which it was renamed Radio City and lasted until the Marine Broadcasting Offences Act came into force in 1967. In 1966 Calvert was shot dead by Oliver Smedley over a financial dispute. Smedley was acquitted on grounds of

self-defence Self-defense (self-defence primarily in Commonwealth English) is a countermeasure that involves defending the health and well-being of oneself from harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force in tim ...

. About this time

left the band. Roger Warwick left to set up an R&B big band for Freddie Mack. Sutch's album '' Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends'' was named in a 1998

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

poll as the worst album of all time, a status it also held in

Colin Larkin Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British music writer. He founded and was the editor-in-chief of ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. Along with the ten-volume encyclopedia, Larkin also wrote the book ''All Time Top 1000 Albums'', and edited th ...

's book ''The Top 1000 Albums of All Time'', despite the fact that

and

performed on it and helped write it. For his follow-up, ''Hands of Jack the Ripper'', Sutch assembled British rock celebrities for a concert at the

Carshalton Carshalton ( ) is a town, with a historic village centre, in south London, England, within the London Borough of Sutton. It is situated around southwest of Charing Cross and around east by north of Sutton town centre, in the valley of the Rive ...

Park Rock 'n' Roll Festival. The show was recorded (though only Sutch knew), and it was released to the surprise of the musicians. Musicians on the record included

(guitar); Matthew Fisher (keyboard); Carlo Little (drums);

(drums);

(bass) and Nick Simper (bass). In 2017 his song "Flashing Lights" was featured in '' Logan Lucky'', directed by

Steven Soderbergh Steven Andrew Soderbergh ( ; born January 14, 1963) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, and editor. A pioneer of modern Independent film, independent cinema, Soderbergh later drew acclaim for formally inventiv ...

Political activities

In the 1960s Sutch stood in parliamentary elections, often as representative of the National Teenage Party. His first was in 1963, when he contested the Stratford by-election caused by the resignation of

John Profumo John Dennis Profumo ( ; 30 January 1915 – 9 March 2006) was a British politician whose career ended in 1963 after a sexual relationship with the 19-year-old model Christine Keeler in 1961. The scandal, which became known as the Profumo affai ...

. He gained 208 votes. His next was at the 1966 general election when he stood in

Harold Wilson James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx (11 March 1916 – 23 May 1995) was a British statesman and Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from 1964 to 1970 and again from 197 ...

Huyton Huyton ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England. Part of the Liverpool Urban Area, Liverpool Built-up Area, it borders the Liverpool suburbs of Dovecot, Merseyside, Dovecot, Knotty Ash and Netherley, Liverpool, ...

constituency. Here he received 585 votes. He founded the

on 16 June 1982 at the Golden Lion Hotel in Ashburton, Devon, and fought the 1983 Bermondsey by-election. In his career he contested over 40 elections. He was recognisable at election counts by his flamboyant clothes and top hat. In 1968 he officially added "lord" to his name by

deed poll A deed poll (plural: deeds poll) is a legal document binding on a single person or several persons acting jointly to express an intention or create an obligation. It is a deed, and not a contract, because it binds only one party. Etymology Th ...

. In the mid 1980s, the deposit paid by candidates was raised from £150 to £500. This did little to deter Sutch, who increased the number of concerts he performed to pay for campaigns. He achieved his highest poll and vote share at

Rotherham Rotherham ( ) is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies at the confluence of the River Rother, South Yorkshire, River Rother, from which the town gets its name, and the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don. It is the largest settlement ...

in 1994 with 1,114 votes and a 4.2 per cent vote share. At the Bootle by-election in May 1990, he secured more votes than the candidate of the Continuing Social Democratic Party (SDP), led by former Foreign Secretary

David Owen David Anthony Llewellyn Owen, Baron Owen, (born 2 July 1938) is a British politician and physician who served as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs as a Labour Party MP under James Callaghan from 1977 to 1979, and later ...

. Within days the SDP dissolved itself. In 1993, when the

British National Party The British National Party (BNP) is a Far-right politics, far-right, British fascism, fascist list of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton, Cumbria, and is led by Adam ...

gained its first local councillor, Derek Beackon, Sutch pointed out that the Official Monster Raving Loony Party already had six. He contested 39 parliamentary elections – a record number – losing his deposit in all of them. He appeared as himself in the first episode of ITV comedy '' The New Statesman'', coming second ahead of Labour and the SDP, in the 1987 election which saw Alan B'Stard elected to Parliament. Adverts in the 1990s for Heineken Pilsener boasted that "Only Heineken can do this". One had Sutch at

10 Downing Street 10 Downing Street in London is the official residence and office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister of the United Kingdom. Colloquially known as Number 10, the building is located in Downing Street, off Whitehall in th ...

after becoming

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

. Sutch pulled out of the 1997 general election to take care of his sick mother in South Harrow. Later that year he contested his last two by-elections, in

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon, northwest of Charing Cross. Uxbridge formed part of the parish of Hillingdon in the county of Middlesex. As part ...

and

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

. In 1999 Sutch starred in a Coco Pops advert as a returning officer announcing the results of its renaming competition. A number of Sutch's Loony Party policies were later adopted by mainstream parties and became law. Specifically:

Personal life

Sutch was friends with Cynthia Payne, and at one time lived at her house. Sutch had a history of depression, and killed himself by

hanging Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...

on 16 June 1999 at his late mother's house. At the

inquest An inquest is a judicial inquiry in common law jurisdictions, particularly one held to determine the cause of a person's death. Conducted by a judge, jury, or government official, an inquest may or may not require an autopsy carried out by a cor ...

, his fiancée Yvonne Elwood said he had manic depression, now known as

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder (BD), previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of Depression (mood), depression and periods of abnormally elevated Mood (psychology), mood that each last from days to weeks, and in ...

. He is buried beside his mother, who died shortly before the 1997 General Election. He is survived by a son, Tristan Lord Gwynne Sutch, born in 1975 to American model Thann Rendessy. In 1991 his

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...

, ''Life as Sutch: The Official Autobiography of a Raving Loony'' (written with Peter Chippindale), was published. In 2005 Graham Sharpe, who had known him since the late 1960s, wrote the first

biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curri ...

, ''The Man Who Was Screaming Lord Sutch''.

Discography

Studio albums

* '' Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends'', also known as ''Smoke and Fire'' (1970), as Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends, with

and

– AUS #16, US #84 * ''Rock & Horror'' (1982), Ace Records CDCHM 65

Live albums

* ''Hands of Jack the Ripper'' (1972), as Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends, with

, Matthew Fisher, Carlo Little,

and Nick Simper * ''Alive and Well'' (1980) * ''Live Manifesto'' (1992) * ''Murder in the Graveyard'' (1992), as Screaming Lord Sutch and the Undertakers

Compilations

* ''Jack the Ripper'' (1985), Autograph Records ASK 780 * ''Story''/''Screaming Lord Sutch & the Savages'' (1991) * ''Raving Loony Party Favourites'' (1996) Posthumously released: * ''Monster Rock'' (2000) * ''Munster Rock'' (2001) * ''Screaming Lord Sutch and the Savages: 1961-1968'' (2020)

Extended plays

Posthumously released: * ''Midnight Man'' (2000) * ''The London Rock & Roll Show'' DVD

Singles

* "'Til the Following Night" b/w " Good Golly Miss Molly" (1961) * "

" b/w "Don't You Just Know It" (1963) * "I'm a Hog for You" b/w "Monster In Black Tights" (1963) * "She's Fallen In Love With The Monster Man" b/w "Bye Bye Baby" (1964) * "Dracula's Daughter" b/w "Come Back Baby" (1964) * " The Train Kept A-Rollin'" b/w "Honey Hush" (1965) * "The Cheat" b/w "Black And Hairy" (1965) *" Purple People Eater" b/w "You Don't Care" (1966) *"'Cause I Love You" b/w "Thumping Beat" (1970), as Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends *"Election Fever" b/w "Rock the Election" (1970), as Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends *"Gotta Keep A-Rocking" b/w "Country Club" (1972), as Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends

Elections contested

Notes:- * ¹ This election was won by the incumbent

. * ² Sutch achieved a better result than the candidate from the rump SDP. * ³ Sutch achieved a better result than the candidate from the continuing

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

. * ⁴ Sutch achieved a better result than the joint candidate from the

Green Party of England and Wales The Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW; ), often known simply as the Green Party or the Greens, is a Green politics, green, Left-wing politics, left-wing political party in England and Wales. Since October 2021, Carla Denyer and Adrian Ram ...

and

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; , ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, and often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left, Welsh nationalist list of political parties in Wales, political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from th ...

. * ⁵ This election was won by the incumbent

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...

. * ⁶ This election was won by the incumbent

Leader of the Liberal Democrats The Liberal Democrats are a political party in the United Kingdom. Party members elect the leader of the Liberal Democrats, the head and highest-ranking member of the party. Liberal Democrat members of Parliament also elect a deputy leader of ...

References

;General * Chippindale, Peter. "Sutch, David Edward (1940–1999)", ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...

'', Oxford University Press, 2004 * ''British Parliamentary Election Results 1950–1973'', compiled and edited by F. W. S. Craig (Parliamentary Research Services 1983) * ''British Parliamentary Election Results 1974–1983'', compiled and edited by F. W. S. Craig (Parliamentary Research Services 1984)

External links

Screaming Lord Sutch and The Savages HistoryScreaming Lord Sutch - Jack The Ripper (live 1964)

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

Official Radio Sutch

BBC report of Sutch's death

BBC obituary
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sutch, Screaming Lord 1940 births 1999 deaths 1999 suicides 20th-century British male singers British rock and roll musicians English radio people English male singers Official Monster Raving Loony Party politicians Musicians from the London Borough of Camden People from Hampstead Pirate radio personalities British politicians who died by suicide Suicides by hanging in England Suicides in Greater London Leaders of political parties in the United Kingdom People with bipolar disorder Psychedelic rock musicians British political candidates Screaming Lord Sutch and the Savages members Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends members British political party founders Novelty candidates