The nucleus of The Sweet came together in 1966, when drummer Michael Thomas Tucker
(b. 17 July 1947, Harlesden, London, England) and vocalist Brian Francis Connolly
(b. 5 October 1945, Hamilton, Scotland) played together in Wainwright's Gentlemen,
a small-time club circuit band whose repertoire comprised a mixture of Motown, R&B
and psychedelia. The pair broke away to form Sweetshop, later shortened to just Sweet,
with Steve Norman Priest (b. 23 February 1948, Hayes, Middlesex) on bass and Frank
Torpey on guitar. After releasing four unsuccessful singles on Fontana and EMI, Torpey
was replaced by first Mick Stewart, and then Mick by Andrew David Scott (b. 30 June
1949, Wrexham, Wales) and the new line-up signed to RCA. The band were introduced
to the writing partnership of Chinn and Chapman, who were to provide the band with
a string of hit singles. Their initial success was down to bubblegum pop anthems
such as Funny Funny, Co-Co, Poppa Joe and Little Willy. However, the band were writing
their own hard-rock numbers on the b-sides of these hits. This resulted in Chinn/Chapman
coming up with heavier pop-rock numbers, most notably the powerful Blockbuster, which
reached number 1 in the UK at the beginning of 1973. The group's determinedly effete,
glam-rock image was reinforced by a succession of Top 10 hits, including Hell Raiser,
Ballroom Blitz, Teenage Rampage and The Six Teens.
Sweet decided to take greater control of their own destiny in 1974 and recorded the
album Sweet Fanny Adams without the assistance of Chinn and Chapman. The album charted
at number 27, but disappeared again after just two weeks. The work marked a significant
departure from their commercially-minded singles on which they had built their reputation.
Set Me Free, Restless and Sweet F.A. epitomized their no-frills hard-rock style.
Desolation Boulevard included the self-penned Fox On The Run which was to hit number
2 in the UK singles chart. This gave the band confidence and renewed RCA's faith
in the band as a commercial proposition. However, as Sweet became more of an albums
band, the hit singles began to dry up, with 1978's Love Is Like Oxygen being their
last Top 10 hit. Following a move to Polydor, they cut four albums with each release
making less impact than its predecessor. Their brand of melodic rock, infused with
infectious hooks and brutal riffs, now failed to satisfy both the teenybopper and
the more mature rock fan. Since 1982, various incarnations of the band have appeared
from time to time, with up to two of the original members in any one line-up. The
most recent of these was in 1986, when they recorded a live album at London's Marquee
Club, with Paul Mario Day (ex-More) handling the vocals. Brian Connolly now suffers
from a muscular disorder, however, his grim situation was warmed in 1992 with the
incredible success of the film Wayne's World and the subsequent renewed interest
in the Sweet, due to the track in the film Ballroom Blitz. Since then, the two current
versions of the band, Andy Scott's Sweet, and Brian Connolly's Sweet, have been regularly
touring and gigging, and even produced their own new material. Sadly, in 1996 a TV
documentary was released which showed Brian in a poor rather pathetic light, and
ignored the fight and dedication that gave Brian his ability to continue. When previewed
by Andy Scott, he immediately tried to stop it’s release but the timing of the preview
was too soon before the release and it was transmitted. Afterwards, Andy and Brian
discussed the possibility of joining up again to ‘put two fingers’ up to those that
had produced this monstrosity, but it was never to be. At the end of 1996, Brian
had again become seriously ill, and he finally lost his fight on Feb 9th 1997. It
was of course a devastating loss to his family and all those that had known Brian.
Andy continued touring and gigging and even producing new material with the release
of the album SweetLife in 2002. Sadly, during that same year, Mick’s health also
deteriorated badly and he too lost his battle with life on February 14th 1997 aged
just 54. The Man With The Golden Arm - never a truer song title.
Andy’s punishing schedule of gigging across Europe and sometimes over the world has
continued and still does so today. Steve Priest is still happily living in the USA
but we’re very fortunate on HSH to regularly get Steve posting on the Sweet Forum
answering many fans questions. Check it out and join us!
