Brett Lewis Anderson (born 29 September 1967) is an English singer-songwriter best known as the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the band Suede. After Suede disbanded in 2003, he briefly fronted The Tears in 2004, and has released four solo albums in which he also played guitar and keyboards. Anderson is known for his distinctive wide-ranging voice, poetic lyrics, energetic and charismatic stage presence and, during Suede's early days, an androgynous appearance. Suede reformed in 2010 and continue to record and tour.
Anderson was born and grew up in Lindfield, Sussex, a village two miles (3 km) north-east of Haywards Heath. His mother was an artist and a dressmaker; his father was a taxi driver whom Anderson described as an "obsessive classical-music fan." He attended Lindfield Junior School, then Oathall Comprehensive School, then Haywards Heath Sixth Form College.
In his teens, Anderson played guitar for garage bands such as The Pigs and Geoff, the latter featuring future Suede bassist Mat Osman. In the late 1980s, while a student at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College, London, Anderson and Osman formed Suede with Anderson's girlfriend, Justine Frischmann, soon recruiting guitarist Bernard Butler through an advertisement in the NME. After they had received temporary percussional help from former Smiths drummer Mike Joyce, in 1991 Simon Gilbert joined as their official drummer. It was around this time that Frischmann left Anderson for Blur frontman Damon Albarn, which created an early rift in the burgeoning Britpop scene of the early 1990s. After missing too many rehearsals and flaunting her relationship with Albarn while still living with Anderson, Frischmann was fired from the group, going on to front Elastica.