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Sweet (also referred to as the Sweet) was a British rock band that rose to worldwide fame in the 1970s as one of the most prominent glam rock acts, with the classic line-up of lead vocalist Brian Connolly, bass player Steve Priest, guitarist Andy Scott, and drummer Mick Tucker.
Sweet was formed in 1968 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 followed a marked progression from the Archies-like bubblegum style of "Funny Funny" to a Who-influenced hard rock style supplemented by a striking use of high-pitched backing vocals. The band achieved notable success in the UK charts, with thirteen Top 20 hits during the 1970s alone, with "Block Buster!" (1973) topping the chart, followed by three consecutive number two hits in "Hell Raiser" (1973), "The Ballroom Blitz" (1973) and "Teenage Rampage" (1974). Their first self-written and produced single "Fox on the Run" (1975) also reached number two on the UK charts. From 1976 the success started to decline and Sweet had their last Top 10 hit in 1978 with "Love is Like Oxygen". The year after, Connolly left the group to start a solo career and the remaining members continued as a threesome until they finally disbanded in 1981.
Since the mid-1980s, Scott, Connolly and Priest have each played with their own versions of Sweet during different periods of time. Connolly died in 1997, and Tucker in 2002. The two surviving members are still active in their respective versions of the band; Scott's is based in the UK and Priest's in California.
Sweet's origins go back to 1965, with UK soul band Wainwright's Gentlemen, which included drummer Mick Tucker and vocalist Ian Gillan. The group were limited to small UK clubs playing a mixture of rhythm and blues and psychedelia. Gillan quit in May 1965 to join Episode Six, and, later, Deep Purple. The band recorded a number of tracks including a cover of The Hollies hit "Ain't That Just Like Me" which was officially released in February 2011 on a compilation CD "Rare Mod, Volume 3" on the Acid Jazz label (AJXCD 238). The track features Gillan on vocals, Tucker on drums and, according to band bassist Jan Frewer, is thought to have been recorded in 1965. Gillan's eventual replacement was vocalist Brian Connolly. Tucker and Connolly remained with Wainwright's Gentlemen until early 1968.
In January 1968, Brian Connolly and Mick Tucker left Wainwright's Gentlemen to form another band, calling themselves The Sweetshop. They recruited the bass guitarist and lead vocalist Steve Priest of a local band called The Army, who had previously played with another local band The Countdowns. Frank Torpey, a friend of Tucker's, was recruited to play guitar. The quartet made its public debut at the Pavilion in Hemel Hempstead in March 1968 and it did not take long to develop a following on the pub circuit and they were signed to the Fontana record label. At the time, another UK band released a single under the same name Sweetshop, so the band changed the name to The Sweet. Their debut single "Slow Motion" (July 1968) failed to chart and due to its rarity now sells for several hundred pounds when auctioned. Sweet was released from the recording contract and Frank Torpey left. Steve Priest in his autobiography (Are You Ready Steve) says Gordon Fairminer was approached to play for them when Torpey decided to leave but turned the job down as he wanted to concentrate on other interests.
In 1969, guitarist Mick Stewart joined, and The Sweet signed a new record contract with EMI's Parlophone label. Three more bubblegum pop singles were released, "Lollipop Man" (September 1969), "All You'll Ever Get from Me" (January 1970), and a cover version of The Archies' "Get on the Line" (June 1970), which all failed to chart. Stewart then quit, and was replaced by ex-Scaffold, Mayfield's Mule, and The Elastic Band guitarist Andy Scott.
Out of all the members, Scott had the most professional experience. 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.
With the new line-up now in place, a management deal was secured with a newly formed, and unknown song writing team, consisting of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. Phil Wainman was the executive producer. This management deal also included a worldwide (the U.S. excepted) record contract with RCA Records. In the U.S., Sweet was on Bell Records then later Capitol Records.
Sweet initially attempted to combine various musical influences, including 1960s bubblegum pop groups such as The Archies and The Monkees, 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 hair metal of a decade later.
Another influence on The Sweet's music was 1960s drummer Sandy Nelson, who partially influenced Mick Tucker's drumming style. In particular, Sweet tracks such as "The Ballroom Blitz" and "The Man with the Golden Arm" contain elements of Sandy Nelson's 1961 U.S. Top 10 hit, "Let There Be Drums".
Sweet's first longplay appearance was on a Music for Pleasure compilation called "Gimme Dat Ding.The Sweet and The Pipkins".EMI-MFP-5248, released in December 1970. The Sweet had one side only, The Pipkins (after whose sole hit, "Gimme Dat Ding", the LP took its name) had the other. The LP features the A- and B-sides of the three commercially unsuccessful Parlophone singles before The Sweet finally found success with "Funny Funny", which was the band's first single release for RCA. Despite the album cover shot of The Sweet featuring Andy Scott, he was not actually a band member until "Funny Funny" and is not featured in any of these recordings.
In January 1971, The Sweet made their UK television debut on a pop show called Lift Off, performing "Funny Funny".
In March 1971, "Funny Funny" became their 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" (May 1971) and it again failed to chart. "Co-Co" (June 1971) became a hit (UK #2). But the following single, "Alexander Graham Bell" (October 1971) was only a minor hit (UK #33).
Sweet's first official full-size LP album entitled Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be was released towards the end of 1971, and failed to chart. A collection of Chinn/Chapman novelty tunes (including "Chop Chop" and "Tom Tom Turnaround") and pop covers (such as The Lovin' Spoonful's "Daydream" and The Supremes' "Reflections"), the album was not a serious contender on the charts, although RCA did press 10,000 copies. As the LP faded into obscurity, Sweet found themselves being labelled by music critics as nothing more than a Top 40 singles band. Furthermore, Chinn and Chapman hindered the band's chance for respectability by bringing in session musicians, as with The Monkees, to play on the records, even though the members of Sweet were competent musically.
The relationship between Sweet, and Chinn and Chapman, was becoming increasingly tense. One major reason was that Sweet were not happy with the 'bubblegum' image that was being cast on them. At the band's insistence and as a conscious contrast, their B-sides got heavier with each release; for example, "Done Me Wrong All Right", the self-penned B-side of "Co-Co", amazed some listeners who had hated the pop sound but loved their rock style and realised there was more to the band than they had thought. This dichotomy of bubblegum A-sides and heavy-rock B-sides only served to confuse their teenage fan following. Indeed, The Sweet's live performances consisted of B-sides, album tracks, and various medleys of rock and roll classics; rarely were the singles played live. A 1973 performance at the Palace Theatre and Grand Hall in Kilmarnock which ended in Sweet being bottled off stage was one such performance; the disorder was attributed by some (including Steve Priest) to Sweet's lipstick and eye-shadow look and by others to the audience being unfamiliar with the concert set and would be immortalised later that year in the hit "The Ballroom Blitz".
February 1972 saw the release of "Poppa Joe" that peaked at number 11 in the UK Singles Chart. The next two singles of that year, "Little Willy" and "Wig-Wam Bam", both reached #4 in the UK, and "Little Willy" peaked at #3 on the U.S. 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 Sweet's previous recordings, the vocals and guitars had a harder, more rock-oriented sound - largely because it was the first Sweet single on which only the real members of Sweet played. It was in many ways, a transition single, paving the way for the change of musical emphasis that came in January 1973 with "Block Buster!", Sweet's first chart-topping single, which quickly reached #1 on the UK chart, remaining there for five consecutive weeks. "Hell Raiser" was released in May and reached position #2, the success of which was repeated by the subsequent singles, "The Ballroom Blitz" (September 1973) and "Teenage Rampage" (January 1974).
As the group's popularity grew, Sweet put in a heavy schedule of UK and European TV promotional appearances, including numerous Top of the Pops and Supersonic slots. Sweet soon picked up a large teenage audience. In one performance of "Block Buster!" on Top of the Pops, Priest aroused complaints after he appeared wearing a German uniform and displaying a swastika armband. The band also capitalised on the glam rock explosion, rivalling Gary Glitter, T. Rex, Queen, Wizzard, and Slade for outrageous stage clothing.
By 1974, Sweet had grown tired of the artistic control Chinn and Chapman exerted over their career, hence the group and Phil Wainman decided to record without the duo. The resulting album, Sweet Fanny Adams, was their first Top 40 entry in the UK Albums Chart. Sweet's technical proficiency was demonstrated for the first time on self-penned hard rock tracks such as "Sweet F.A." and "Set Me Free". Sweet also dropped their glam rock image in favour of a more conventional hard rock appearance. In response to UK music critics, Sweet concentrated on proving their musical talents with self-written tracks.
The Sweet Fanny Adams album also featured compressed high-pitched backing vocal harmonies, which was a trend that continued on all of Sweet's albums. Sweet, and later Queen, were recognised as some of the main exponents of high-pitched harmonies during the 1970s. During sessions for the album Brian Connolly was injured in a fight in Staines High Street. His throat was badly injured and his ability to sing severely limited. Priest and Scott filled in on lead vocals on some tracks ("No You Don't", "Into The Night" and "Restless") and Connolly under treatment from a Harley Street specialist managed to complete the album. The band did not publicise the incident and told the press that subsequent cancelled shows were due to Connolly having a throat infection. No previous singles appeared on the album and none were released except in Japan and Australia where "Peppermint Twist/Rebel Rouser" gained a high chart position.
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