The Sweet
The Sweet are a British glam rock band who rose to prominence in the 1970s. Their best-known line-up consisted of lead vocalist Brian Connolly, bassist Steve Priest, guitarist Andy Scott and drummer Mick Tucker.
The band formed in London in 1968, originally under the name The Sweetshop, and achieved their first hit, "Funny, Funny", in 1971, after teaming up with songwriters Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman and record producer Phil Wainman. During 1971 and 1972, their musical style showed a marked progression, from the Archies-like bubblegum style of "Funny, Funny" to a Who-influenced hard rock style, supplemented by a use of high-pitched backing vocals.
The band first achieved success in the UK charts during the 1970s, having thirteen top 20 hits, with "Block Buster!" topping the chart, followed by three consecutive number-two hits: "Hell Raiser", "The Ballroom Blitz" and "Teenage Rampage". The band turned to a more hard rock style with their mid-career singles, such as 1974's "Turn It Down". "Fox on the Run" also reached number two on the UK chart. The band were popular in West Germany and other countries on the European mainland. The group achieved success in the US with the top ten hits "Little Willy", "The Ballroom Blitz", "Fox on the Run", and "Love Is Like Oxygen".
Sweet had their last international success in 1978 with "Love Is Like Oxygen". Connolly left the group in 1979 to start a solo career, and the remaining members continued as a trio until they disbanded in 1981. From the mid-1980s, Scott, Connolly and Priest each played with their own versions of Sweet at different times. Connolly died in 1997, Tucker in 2002 and Priest in 2020. Andy Scott is still active with his version of the band. Sweet have sold over 35 million albums worldwide.
History
Origins
The Sweet's origins can be traced back to British soul band Wainwright's Gentlemen. Mark Lay's history of that band states they formed around 1962 and were initially known as Unit 4. Founding members included Chris Wright, Jan Frewer, and Jim Searle and Alfred Fripp on guitars. Phil Kenton joined on drums as the band changed its name to Wainwright's Gentlemen. Managed by Frewer's father, the band performed in the Hayes, Harrow and Wembley area. By 1964 the group was also playing in London, including at the Saint Germain Club on Poland Street.In January 1964 the band came fifth in a national beat group contest, with finals held at the Lyceum Strand on 4 May 1964. Highlights of the show were presented on BBC1 by Alan Freeman. Chris Wright left the line-up in late 1964 and was replaced by Ian Gillan. Ann Cully also joined the band as a vocalist. Mick Tucker, from Kingsbury, joined on drums replacing Phil Kenton. The band recorded a number of tracks including a cover of the Coasters-Hollies hit "Ain't That Just Like Me", which was probably recorded at Jackson Sound Studios in Rickmansworth. The track includes Gillan on vocals, Tucker on drums and, according to band bassist Jan Frewer, is thought to have been recorded in 1965. Gillan quit in May 1965 to join Episode Six, and later, Deep Purple. Cully remained as vocalist before departing some time later. Gillan's and Cully's eventual replacement, in late 1966, was Scots-born vocalist Brian Connolly, who hailed more recently from Harefield. Tony Hall had joined on saxophone and vocals and when Fripp left he was replaced by Gordon Fairminer. Fairminer's position was eventually assumed by Frank Torpey – a schoolfriend of Tucker's who had just left West London group The Tribe. Torpey only lasted a few months, and in late 1967 Robin Box took his place. Searle disappeared from the scene. Tucker and Connolly remained with Wainwright's Gentlemen until January 1968, when Tucker was dismissed. Tucker was replaced by Roger Hills. When the Gentlemen eventually broke up, Hills and Box joined White Plains who eventually scored a hit with "My Baby Loves Lovin'".
Early years
In January 1968, Connolly and Tucker formed a new band, calling themselves The Sweetshop. They recruited bass guitarist and vocalist Steve Priest from a local band called The Army. Priest had previously played with mid-'60s band the Countdowns who had been produced and recorded by Joe Meek. Frank Torpey was again recruited to play guitar. The quartet made its public debut at the Pavilion in Hemel Hempstead on 9 March 1968 and they gradually developed a following. They were managed by Paul Nicholas, who later went on to star in Hair. Nicholas worked with record producer Phil Wainman at Mellin Music Publishing who was sufficiently impressed to record them. This led to a contract with Fontana Records. Just weeks before their debut release an unrelated artist released a single under the name Sweetshop, so the band abbreviated their moniker to The Sweet. "Slow Motion", produced by Wainman, failed to chart. The Sweet were released from the recording contract and Frank Torpey left after a further year of fruitless toil. In his autobiography Are You Ready Steve, Priest says Gordon Fairminer was approached to play for them when Torpey decided to leave The Sweet after a gig at Playhouse Theatre, Walton-on-Thames, on 5 July 1969 but turned the job down as he wanted to concentrate on other interests.New line-up and new record deal
Guitarist Mick Stewart joined in 1969. Stewart had some rock pedigree, having previously worked with The Redcaps and Simon Scott & The All-Nite Workers in the mid-1960s. In late 1965, that band became The Phil Wainman Set when the future Sweet producer joined on drums and the group cut some singles with Errol Dixon. In early 1966, Stewart left and later worked with Johnny Kidd & The Pirates.The Sweet signed a new record contract with EMI's Parlophone label. Three Bubblegum pop singles were released: "Lollipop Man", "All You'll Ever Get from Me", and a cover version of the Archies' "Get on the Line", all of which failed to chart. Stewart then quit, and was not replaced for some time. Connolly and Tucker had a chance meeting with Wainman, who was now producing, and knew of two aspiring songwriters, Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, who were looking for a group to sing some demos they had written. Connolly, Priest, and Tucker provided the vocals on a track called "Funny, Funny" which featured Pip Williams on guitar, John Roberts on bass, and Wainman on drums. The latter began offering the track to various recording companies. The band held auditions for a replacement guitarist and settled on Welsh-born Andy Scott. He had most recently been playing with Mike McCartney in the Scaffold. As a member of the Elastic Band, he had played guitar on two singles for Decca, "Think of You Baby" and "Do Unto Others". He also appeared on the band's lone album release, Expansions on Life, and on some recordings by the Scaffold. The band rehearsed for a number of weeks before Scott made his live debut with Sweet on 26 September 1970 at the Windsor Ballroom in Redcar.
The Sweet initially attempted to combine diverse musical influences, including the Monkees and 1960s bubblegum pop groups such as the Archies, with more heavy rock-oriented groups such as the Who. The Sweet adopted the rich vocal harmony style of the Hollies, with distorted guitars and a heavy rhythm section. This fusion of pop and hard rock would remain a central trademark of Sweet's music and prefigured the glam metal of a few years later.
The Sweet's initial album appearance was on the budget label Music for Pleasure as part of a compilation called Gimme Dat Ding, released in December 1970. Sweet had one side of the record; the Pipkins had the other. The Sweet's contribution consisted of the A- and B-sides of the band's three Parlophone singles. Andy Scott appears in the album cover shot, even though he did not play on any of the recordings.
First album
The Sweet made their UK television debut in December 1970 on a pop show called Lift Off, performing the song "Funny, Funny". A management deal was signed with the songwriting team of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. Phil Wainman resumed his collaboration with The Sweet, as executive producer. This management deal also included a worldwide record contract with RCA Records, with the exception of North America: in the United States and Canada, the band's records were distributed by Bell Records until late 1973, followed by Capitol Records.In March 1971, RCA issued "Funny, Funny", written by Chinn and Chapman, which became the group's first international hit, climbing to the Top 20 on many of the world's charts. EMI reissued their 1970 single "All You'll Ever Get from Me" and it again failed to chart. Their next RCA release "Co-Co" went to number two in the UK and their follow up single, "Alexander Graham Bell", only went to No. 33. These tracks still featured session musicians on the instruments with the quartet providing only the vocals.
The Sweet's first full LP album, Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be, was released in November 1971. It contained a collection of the band's recent singles, supplemented by some new Chinn/Chapman tunes and pop covers. The album, recorded at Nova Studios in London, was produced by Phil Wainman and engineered by Richard Dodd and Eric Holland. It was not a serious contender on the charts.
Initial success and rise to fame
February 1972 saw the release of "Poppa Joe", which reached number 1 in Sweden and Finland and peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart. The next two singles of that year, "Little Willy" and "Wig-Wam Bam", both reached No. 4 in the UK. "Little Willy" peaked at No. 3 on the US Billboard Hot 100 after a re-issue in 1973, thus becoming the group's biggest American hit. Although "Wig-Wam Bam" remained largely true to the style of their previous recordings, the vocals and guitars had a harder, more rock-oriented sound, largely because it was the first Chinn-Chapman single on which only members of the band played the instruments. In January 1973 "Block Buster!" became The Sweet's first single to reach number 1 on the UK chart, remaining there for five consecutive weeks. After their next single "Hell Raiser" was released in May and reached number 2 in the UK, the band's US label, Bell, released the group's first American album The Sweet in July 1973.To promote their singles, The Sweet made appearances on UK and European TV shows such as Top of the Pops and Supersonic. In one performance of "Block Buster!" on Top of the Pops Christmas edition, Priest aroused complaints after he appeared replete in a German military uniform, Hitler moustache and displaying a swastika armband. The band also capitalised on the glam rock explosion, rivalling Gary Glitter, T. Rex, Queen, Slade, and Wizzard for outrageous stage clothing.
Despite The Sweet's success, the relationship with their management was becoming increasingly tense. While they had developed a large fan-base among teenagers, The Sweet were not happy with their 'bubblegum' image. The group had always composed their own usually heavy-rock songs on the B-sides of their singles to contrast with the bubblegum A-sides which were composed by Chinn and Chapman. During this time, The Sweet's live performances consisted of B-sides, album tracks, and various medleys of rock and roll classics; they avoided older novelty hits like "Funny, Funny" and "Poppa Joe". A 1973 performance at the Palace Theatre and Grand Hall in Kilmarnock ended in The Sweet being bottled off stage; the disorder was attributed by some to The Sweet's lipstick and eye-shadow look, and by others to the audience being unfamiliar with the concert set. The incident would be immortalised in the hit "The Ballroom Blitz". In the meantime, The Sweet's chart success continued, showing particular strength in the UK, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, and Australia.