Pop, jazz, and blues singer Suede will make her debut at Feinstein's at the Nikko on September 23 and 24, accompanied by pianist John R. Burr. Her new concert, "Anything Could Happen," includes her own songs, plus some popular classics.
Suede, an out lesbian for more than two decades, has been performing in clubs and concert halls around the world for the past 25 years, on her own label, Easily Suede Music. She has recently performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and at Birdland jazz club in New York City. Several years ago, she opened for Joan Rivers at Town Hall in Provincetown.
Suede has been in San Francisco half a dozen times in the past decade, including gigs at The Razz Room and the Empire Plush Room, both now closed. Her last appearance in San Francisco was five years ago, Suede said in a telephone interview with the Bay Area Reporter.
"And I absolutely cannot wait to get back," she said. "San Francisco is one of my all-time favorite cities. When Feinstein's called me, I was thrilled" to book the concert, she said. "I hope we can pack the house."
A New York native, Suede, 60, moved frequently as a child, because "my Dad was a fix-it guy for 3M, so we moved around a lot. I had no idea what great preparation that would be for my career."
Now living in Wellfleet, Massachusetts on Cape Cod, Suede will be performing in Key West, Florida just before her San Francisco gig. After that, she will give a private concert to the Oakmont Rainbow Women in Santa Rosa in October, and perform in Ogunquit, Maine and in Provincetown for Women's Week.
Being a musician was a given for Suede.
"I'm one of those people who knew since I was a little kid that I wanted to be a musician," she said. As she watched her mother play piano, "at age four I got myself up on the piano bench and plunked it out one key at a time. I realized quite young that the only question I had about being a musician was how I was going to make it happen."
Self-taught until she reached college, Suede said she always wondered if she was actually talented.
"My parents would say, 'We wish we could afford to have you take music lessons because you could be so good.' Well, I assumed that meant I was not very good."
"Anyway," she added, "I've had lots of therapy since then, and I'm over all of that issue."
During high school in Maryland, Suede played guitar as a street performer as well as performing in and managing various bands.
After graduation from Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, Suede moved to Maryland, where she got a job working for the parks department. Her assignments included "pushing lawnmowers, digging graves, and playing taps at military funerals."
She moved up to a day job in sales at a music store, where she kept getting promoted and was urged to go into management.
Suede
"I said absolutely no to the management job, gave two weeks notice, and went to a women's club and asked to audition." Although the club had never had live music, the owner was so impressed by her audition that she began performing there the following week.
Before long, Suede's career went mainstream as she got bookings at clubs and concert halls all over the world. In the 1980s, as her career took off, Suede says, "I wouldn't have called myself a political activist, although I've always been very passionate about politics and willing to express my own opinions."
Suede said she was always open about being a lesbian.
"I came out because I was aware of the homophobia in society and felt strongly that the more people who saw us as non-threatening, the further we can take the battle," she said. "As I started losing a lot of friends to AIDS, I was a lot more vocal."
As far as previous or current romantic relationships, Suede said she's always kept her personal and professional lives separate.
Getting bookings in the jazz market was difficult, because club owners had a "very specific idea a gorgeous blond singing about the man who got away," she said. "That's not me. My music is not gender-specific, it's inclusive. It's important for me to be authentic. I'm never going to get on stage and sing about the man who got away."
As society has become more tolerant, more lesbian performers have become comfortable coming out. "Carmen McRae was very closeted and probably would not have had the career she did had she been out," said Suede.
At the same time LGBT performers gained acceptance, the live entertainment business had an increasingly difficult time filling the seats.
"Audiences seem much less likely to go out to see a new artist," she said. "They're just not supporting live music as much. It used to be that we'd get a guarantee. Now it's a split of the door.
"Luckily," she added, "I'm not just starting out and I'm happy to say that I'm still playing all the great rooms in the country."
While life on the road can be exhausting, Suede said, "I am still absolutely amazed and thrilled that I've been able to do what I love for more than 30 years.
"No matter what has gone wrong -whether the plane was all night, whether they lost my luggage�- once I get up there on the stage, with the band and the audience, it's the very best drug I've found. I get this hit of connecting and it is always just amazing."
Suede performs at Feinstein's at the Nikko, September 22 & 23 at 8pm. $30-$50 ($20 food/drink min.) Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (866) 663-1063. www.feinsteinsatthenikko.com