Neil John Codling (born 5 December 1973) is an English musician and songwriter, best known as the keyboardist, rhythm guitarist, backing vocalist and co-songwriter for the

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band

Suede Suede (pronounced ) is a type of leather with a fuzzy, napped finish, commonly used for jackets, shoes, fabrics, purses, furniture, and other items. The term comes from the French , which literally means "gloves from Sweden". The term was firs ...

Early life

Neil Codling was raised in

Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-we ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

and studied English and Drama at the

University of Hull The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hull ...

. He and the drummer of Suede, Simon Gilbert, are cousins.Barnett, D
"Trash, You & Me: The Story Of Suede's Coming Up"

The Quietus ''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics. Content ''The Quiet ...

. 23 March 2010

Suede

In the autumn of 1995, Codling joined the band as a keyboardist and backing vocalist whilst recording their third album, '' Coming Up''. His first appearance for Suede took place in Hanover Grand, on a secret fanclub gig on 27 January 1996, while his first public performance with Suede was in September 1996. For their 1999 album ''

Head Music ''Head Music'' is the fourth album by English alternative rock band Suede, released by Nude Records in May 1999. Produced and mixed by Steve Osborne, ''Head Music'' features a more electronic sound, which was a new approach for the band. The rec ...

'', his role became considerably larger within the band, co-writing many of the album's songs. Aside from singer

Brett Anderson Brett Lewis Anderson (born 29 September 1967) is an English singer best known as the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the band Suede. After Suede disbanded in 2003, he fronted The Tears with former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler in 2004- ...

, Codling was the only member of Suede to receive sole writing credit on several of the group's songs, which included "Elephant Man", "Digging a Hole", "Waterloo" and "Weight of the World", and sang lead on the latter three songs, all

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

s. Codling also played some rhythm guitar during

live shows Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film *'' ''Live'' (Apocalyptica DVD) Music *Live (band), American alternative rock band * List of albums ...

while he was in the group. Together with Richard Oakes, Codling gave Suede's style a touch of pop and electricity, giving birth to two No. 1 albums in the UK: ''Coming Up'' and ''Head Music''. On 23 March 2001, it was announced that Codling had quit Suede, due to his

chronic fatigue syndrome Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), also called myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) or ME/CFS, is a complex, debilitating, long-term medical condition. The causes and mechanisms of the disease are not fully understood. Distinguishing core symptoms are ...

. In December 2004 he played a show featuring his musical project ''

Barry O'Neil Barry O'Neil (September 24, 1865 – March 23, 1918) was a film director and writer. His real name was Thomas J. McCarthy. He directed several Thanhouser films including the production company's first two-reeler,https://www.thanhouser.org/TCOCD/Nar ...

'', which is a duo comprising him and Harriet Cawley. Subsequently, Codling played keyboards on tour with the pop singer

Natalie Imbruglia Natalie Jane Imbruglia ( , ; born 4 February 1975) is an Australian singer and actress. In the early 1990s, she played Beth Brennan in the Australian soap opera '' Neighbours''. Three years after leaving the programme, she began a singing car ...

in 2005. In April 2007, it was announced that Codling would be playing keyboards for two Anderson solo concerts in Germany—the first time the pair would be re-united since he left Suede. In 2009, Codling joined

Penguin Cafe Penguin Cafe is a band originally conceived by Arthur Jeffes, son of Simon Jeffes and Emily Young, as a continuation of his father's project, the Penguin Cafe Orchestra. The group is distinct from the original Penguin Cafe Orchestra, despite the ...

and continues to play with the orchestra in the present day. Codling joined his former bandmates for three UK Suede concerts in 2010,''Suede play first gig in seven years''
''NME'', 21 March 2010 (retrieved 16 April 2010) and the reunited band continued playing occasional gigs around the world throughout 2010 and 2011. In 2013, Suede released ''

Bloodsports A blood sport or bloodsport is a category of sport or entertainment that involves bloodshed. Common examples of the former include combat sports such as cockfighting and dog fighting, and some forms of hunting and fishing. Activities characte ...

'', their first album in 10 years. Codling is credited with part-writing eight of its ten songs. The Suede album ''

Night Thoughts ''The Complaint: or, Night-Thoughts on Life, Death, & Immortality'', better known simply as ''Night-Thoughts'', is a long poem by Edward Young published in nine parts (or "nights") between 1742 and 1745. It was illustrated with notable engrav ...

'' was released on 22 January 2016. Codling has eight writing credits of its twelve songs. He co-produced the album with

Ed Buller Edmund Wilbur Hudson "Ed" Buller (born 9 August 1962 in Reigate, Surrey) is an English record producer and former musician. He has primarily worked with English bands including Suede, Pulp, The Raincoats and The Courteeners. Biography Buller fir ...

. A new Suede album '' The Blue Hour'' was released on 21 September 2018. Codling is co-credited with writing 9 songs in the album, as well as co-producing the album with

Alan Moulder Alan Moulder (born 11 June 1959) is an English record producer, mixing engineer, and audio engineer. Early life Moulder was born on 11 June 1959 in Boston, Lincolnshire. He was educated at Boston Grammar School. He had an interest in music fro ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Codling, Neil 1973 births Living people People with chronic fatigue syndrome English keyboardists English songwriters English male singers People from Stratford-upon-Avon Suede (band) members People educated at King Edward VI School, Stratford-upon-Avon Alumni of the University of Hull Alternative rock keyboardists Britpop musicians 21st-century English singers 21st-century British male singers Penguin Cafe members British male songwriters