The Sweet - Rock Legends in Waiting

One of the most popular British acts of the glam era of the 1970s, The Sweet enjoyed chart success with a string of hits between 1971 and 1978. Brian Connolly, Mick Tucker, Steve Priest and Andy Scott originally called themselves The Sweetshop before shortening the name to The Sweet.

Despite ambitions to be a "serious" band in the mould of Led Zeppelin or ELO, The Sweet nevertheless found themselves releasing fun tunes which seamlessly blended hard rock with typical English pop tunes. Early hit ‘Funny Funny' saw them make their first television appearance in January 1971, with the single later appearing with the follow up number two hit ‘Co-co' on the incredulously-titled ‘Funny How Sweet Coco Can Be'.

The Sweet had their first US hit just 12 months later, as ‘Little Willie' reached number three on the Billboard charts, and number four in the UK. Despite being able to play their own instruments, session musicians were used to record the group's early singles, although the group played live. Their hits Wig Wam Bam' (a 1972 number four in the UK) ,‘Hell Raiser' (UK number two in 1973), ‘Ballroom Blitz' (number two in the UK and number 5 in the USA) and ‘Blockbuster' were all courtesy of record company songwriting team Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman.

Their high-camp, glam rock image lead to the group being renowned for their appearances on Top of the Pops in the UK, where a weekly attempt was made by acts T-Rex, David Bowie, Elton John, Wizzard and The Sweet to out-do the other with a succession of incredibly shiny, glittery and ridiculous costumes and heavy makeup. This was an iconic era for young British music fans in the 1970s, and underlined the glam nature of the pop and rock scene.

The Sweet's popularity during this period saw ‘Blockbuster' reach Number 1 in 1973, holding off a challenge from David Bowie's ‘Jean Genie'- despite both tracks having the same guitar intro and ‘Jean Genie' being released a week before ‘Blockbuster'. This became the group's defining moment, and lead to The Sweet being able to leverage some extra recording studio time to work on their own compositions.

True greatness was said to have been snatched from Sweet when Brian Connolly was kicked in the throat during a fight outside a pub in Staines High Street in 1974, affecting the final recording sessions to their biggest UK album hit ‘Sweet Fanny Adams'. Connolly's voice never recovered, and in later years became further hampered by heavy smoking and alcohol abuse.

By 1975 they were releasing self-penned hits. ‘Fox on the Run' gave them a number five on the Billboard charts and a number two hit in the UK, while ‘Action' saw gave The Sweet a top 20 hit in both the UK and the US. Their albums began to develop a heavier sound, a trend which culminated with the album ‘Level Headed' which mixed hard rock with orchestra accompaniments. Despite the usual lack of UK chart success with the album (a fact often attributed to distribution and promotion issues with their record label) the group nevertheless achieved critical plaudits. The Sweet's final hit came in 1978, with ‘Love is Like Oxygen' reaching nine in the UK and eight in the US singles charts.

The Sweet were notable for achieving a relatively young, female fan base and exposing them to relatively heavy pop/rock tunes; their influence was later seen in both the British and American glam metal trend of the mid 1980s. Lead singer Brian Connolly sadly died in 1997 following a long battle with alcoholism. The Sweet's music is often found on film soundtrack albums, and the band still tours as Andy Scott's Sweet.