Screaming Lord Sutch

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

Fellow musician Chas McDevitt 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".

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.

After his career as an early 1960s rock and roll attraction, it became customary for the UK press to refer to him as "Screaming Lord Sutch", or simply "Lord Sutch".

Early works included recordings produced by audio pioneer Joe Meek.

During the 1960s Screaming Lord Sutch was known for his horror-themed stage show, dressing as Jack the Ripper, pre-dating the shock rock antics of Arthur Brown and Alice Cooper.

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.

Despite a self-confessed lack of vocal talent, Sutch released horror-themed singles during the early to mid-1960s, the most popular being "Jack the Ripper", which was covered live and on record by garage rock bands including the White Stripes, the Gruesomes, the Black Lips and the Horrors, the latter for their debut album.

His single "The Cheat" has been cited as a proto-psychedelic recording.

In the 1960s Sutch stood in parliamentary elections, often as representative of the National Teenage Party.

He holds the record for contesting the most Parliamentary elections: 39 between 1963-97.

As a singer, he variously worked with Keith Moon, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Ritchie Blackmore, Charlie Watts, John Bonham, Noel Redding, Mitch Mitchell and Nicky Hopkins, and is known for his recordings with Joe Meek including "Jack the Ripper" (1963).

Sutch was born at New End Hospital in Hampstead, North London, and grew up in Harrow.

In 1963 Sutch and his manager, Reginald Calvert, took over Shivering Sands Army Fort, a Maunsell Fort off Southend, and in 1964 started Radio Sutch, intending to compete with other pirate radio stations such as Radio Caroline.

Broadcasts consisted of music and Mandy Rice-Davies reading Lady Chatterley's Lover.

His first was in 1963, when he contested the Stratford by-election caused by the resignation of John Profumo.

He gained 208 votes.

In 1966 Calvert was shot dead by Oliver Smedley over a financial dispute.

Smedley was acquitted on grounds of self-defence.

About this time Ritchie Blackmore left the band.

Roger Warwick left to set up an R&B big band for Freddie Mack.

His next was at the 1966 general election when he stood in Harold Wilson's Huyton constituency.

Here he received 585 votes.

Sutch tired of the station, and sold it to Calvert, after which it was renamed Radio City, and lasted until 1967.

In 1968 he officially added "lord" to his name by deed poll.

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 founded the Official Monster Raving Loony Party 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.

He was the founder of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party and served as its leader from 1983 to 1999, during which time he stood in numerous parliamentary elections.

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.

He achieved his highest poll and vote share at Rotherham in 1994 with 1,114 votes and a 4.2 per cent vote share.

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 Jimmy Page, John Bonham, Jeff Beck, Noel Redding and Nicky Hopkins 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 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 Ritchie Blackmore (guitar); Matthew Fisher (keyboard); Carlo Little (drums); Keith Moon (drums); Noel Redding (bass) and Nick Simper (bass).

In 2017 his song "Flashing Lights" was featured in Logan Lucky, directed by Steven Soderbergh.