He also worked as a columnist and politician and briefly served in the Royal Thai Air Force, reaching the rank of pilot officer.

Born in Nakhon Ratchasima Province, Suthep trained as an artist but was soon introduced to the music industry; the hit song "Rak Khun Khao Laeo" brought him fame at the age of nineteen.

[2] Suthep worked as a sign painter for about two years after graduating, until a friend invited him to voice act in a radio play he was writing.

He began singing during play interludes, and became acquainted to several composers and songwriters, including Pruang Chuenprayoth [th], who offered Suthep his first recording opportunity with the song "Duangchai Thi Ro Khoi" (ดวงใจที่รอคอย, 'Awaited Sweetheart'), and Saman Kanchanaphalin [th] and Sunthariya Na Wiangkan [th], who wrote "Rak Khun Khao Laeo" (รักคุณเข้าแล้ว, 'Falling in Love with You'), the hit song that propelled Suthep to national fame in 1954, at the age of nineteen.

He served his two years of conscription mostly as a singer for the Air Force's military band, and was chosen as part of a cultural exchange delegation to the People's Republic of China in 1957.

He failed to be re-elected in 1983, but joined the Palang Dharma Party and successfully stood for election in 1988, representing Bangkok until the 1991 coup, after which he retired from politics.

[5] His style of singing earned him reputation as a crooner; writer Rong Wongsawan once described his voice as smooth like "silk rubbed against beer foam".