Year by year | The Ultimate Sweet Fan Site

January 26th, 1968	Sweetshop were formed Friday the 26th January 1968, in a meet at the Swan (Mick Tucker, Brian Connolly, Frank Torpey) Ruislip. Nearly a week later Thursday 1st of February Steve Priest joined ! Frank was sacked from Wainrights Gentlemen, Brian was about to get the boot too. So Mick and Brian thought their future looked better with Frank. Steve was their first choice of bass player.
March 4, 1968	Sweetshop make their first live debut at the Pavillion, Hemel Hampstead, Herts.
May 22, 1968	Officially changed name to Sweet (sometimes refered as The Sweet)
July 19, 1968	The band’s first single, “Slow Motion” is released on the Fontana Records.
August, 1968	The band make their first live BBC radio broadcast on Radio 1’s “David Symond’s Show”.
September, 1968	The band makes a move from Fontana Records to EMI’s Parlophone label and their next single, “Lollipop Man” is released the following month, seeing minimal sales.
1969	Franks last gig with the band was 18 months later at the Playhouse Theatre Walton-on-Thames Saturday 5th July 1969. Frank Torpey was replaced by Mick Stewart.
1970	The band releases two more singles on the Parlophone label, “All You’ll Ever Get From Me” and “Get On The Line” both failed to chart. Parlophone then drops them from the label. Sweetshop also experience two more major changes that year. Mick Stewart leaves and is replaced by guitarist Andrew David Scott who had recently moved to London after the previous band he was with called The Elastic Band broke up.
January, 1971	Sweet make their UK TV debut on a pop show called Lift Off. They also sign a new recording deal with the RCA record label and begin their longtime relationship with producer Phil Wainman.
March, 1971	Funny Funny became their first international hit, climbing to the Top 20 on many of the world’s charts.
May, 1971	Sweet have their first chart topping song success in the UK with the Nicky Chinn/Mike Chapman composition “Funny Funny” which reaches #13 in the UK.
June, 1971	Sweet follow up “Funny Funny” with another Chinn/Chapman penned song, “Co-Co” which goes all the way to #2 in the British charts, prevented from reaching the top position by Middle of the Road’s “Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep.”
October, 1971	The band is signed to Bell Records in the United States. “Co-Co” is released in America, charting at #91.
October, 1971	Another Chinn/Chapman song, “Alexander Graham Bell,” is released and it reaches #33 in the UK . Their first album, “Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be” is also released that month, but with no luck.
February, 1972	“Poppa Joe” is released, which makes its way to #11 in the UK. Sweet become favourite regulars on the BBC TV’s ‘Top of the Pops’ show, which encourage their increasing use of way out visual images, flamboyant glam costumes and glitzy make up.
May, 1972	Steve and Brian are taken to court in Belgium by a town objecting to an earlier Sweet concert which had involved the use of an allegedly pornographic film clip. Later this month Sweet was kicked out of Tivoli in Copenhagen after a gig in Krudthuset.
June, 1972	Yet another ChinniChap song, “Little Willy” is released and hits #4 in the UK. The slight double entendre on the song is often exploited by the band and its audiences, especially during live shows. Later, for what is considered to be an overtly sexual stage act, the band are banned by the Mecca dancehall circuit.
September, 1972	“Wig Wam Bam” is released in the UK, charting at #4. The band promotes the song by making appearences in Native American costumes and sporting warpaint-like makeup.
December, 1972	A compilation album, “Sweet’s Biggest Hits” is released by RCA.
January, 1973	“Blockbuster” gives Sweet its first UK #1, and it remains on the top of the charts for five weeks. The song has a similar riff to another popular song of the time, David Bowie’s “Jean Genie” which is stopped at #2 by “Blockbuster.”
March 30, 1973	Disaster at the Rainbow (equipment breaks down)
April, 1973	“Little Willy” becomes the first of the band’s singles to be certified gold by the RIAA. In the same month, “Hell Raiser” is released in the UK.
May, 1973	“Little Willy” gives Sweet their first and biggest chart success in the US, going to #3 on the American charts. The band is again stalled in the charts at #2, this time, by Tony Orlando and Dawn’s “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Around the Old Oak Tree’ which holds the top position.
July, 1973	“Blockbuster” in the US peaks at #73.
September, 1973	“Ballroom Blitz” is released, which makes its way to #2 in Britain. The band is again kept out of the top spot, this time by Simon Park Orchestra’s “Eye Level.”
February, 1974	“Teenage Rampage” becomes the band’s third single in a row to reach number #2 in the UK. They are stalled from reaching #1 this time by another ChinniChap composition, Mud’s “Tiger Feet.”
April, 1974	The band’s self-penned third album, “Sweet Fanny Adams” is released in the UK, going to #27 in the charts. This will become Sweet’s only UK chart album in the 70’s. The band launches its first UK tour.
July, 1974	“The Six Teens” is released , making it to #9 in the UK.
November, 1974	“Turn it Down” is released, only making it to #41. The song receives minimal airplay and is even banned by some radio stations because of its lyrical content. The album “Desolation Boulevard” is released.
December, 1974	The band decide to sever their longtime connection with songwriters Chinn and Chapman, unhappy with the musical direction they are being taken toward. Sweet decide to write and produce their own material from this point on, in hopes of gaining greater artistic credibility on an international scale.
March, 1975	Sweet’s first self-penned single, “Fox on the Run” is released in the UK. The song reaches #2 and the band is once again kept out of the top spot, this time by the Bay City Roller’s “Bye Bye Baby.”
July, 1975	“Action” is released, which goes to #15.
September, 1975	The band embarks on its first ever three-month US tour, seeing their greatest period of sucess in America.
October, 1975	“Ballroom Blitz” becomes the band’s second American chart success, hitting the US charts at #5, one year after its release in the UK. Later that month, Sweet releases “Desolation Boulevard,” with a different track listing (including tracks from “Sweet Fanny Adams”), which becomes their most successful album release in America.
January, 1976	“Fox on the Run” hits the US charts at #5. The song becomes the third and last of their top and last of their top 5 successes in America. Later that month, “Lies in your Eyes,” reaches #35.
February, 1976	“Fox on the Run” becomes the second Sweet single to be certified gold by the RIAA.
March,1976	The album “Give us a wink” is released.
May, 1976	“Desolation Boulevard” is certified gold by the RIAA.
October, 1976	Sweet wrote and recorded new material at Kingsway Recorders and Audio International London studios for their next album
April, 1977	The album “Off The Record” is released.
May 9, 1977	Checked in at Clearwell castle
September, 1977	“Funk It Up” (David’s Song), which is not released in the UK as a single, is released in the US and charts at #88. For the remainder of the year, the band retreat to Clearwell Castle in Wales to write another album and then begin recording sessions in France.
January, 1978	After a two-year absence on the singles charts in the UK, Sweet leaves RCA Records after three singles in a row fail to chart and signs on to Polydor Records in the UK and Capitol Records in the US. Their first release for the new labels becomes the album, “Level Headed.” The first single from the album, “Love Is Like Oxygen,” hits the UK singles charts at #9, spurred by an appearence on Top Of The Pops. The song is also used in a Joan Collins movie called “The Bitch.” Later in the year, Sweet will launch their first UK tour in four years.
February 23, 1979	Brian Connolly leaves the group to pursue a solo career. The album, “A Cut Above The Rest” is released, becoming the last Sweet album to chart in America, reaching #151 .Sweet basically remains a three piece for the rest of it’s career with Gary Moberly joining on keyboards- Priest, Tucker, and Scott sharing lead vocal duties.
1980	“Waters Edge” is released and Brian Connolly issued two solo singles for Polydor. “Take Away The Music” and “Don’t You Know A Lady” were both minor hits in Germany in 1980. Connolly’s other single was titled “Hypnotised” released in 1982.
March 20, 1981	Their last gig took place at Glasgow University, Scotland.
1982	“Identity Crisis,” Sweet’s final album is released but only in Germany and the band officially dissolves later that year.
1984	Andy Scott releases his second solo single titled “Krugerrands”. This 1983 release failed to chart, except in South Africa where it was a top 10 hit. In 1984, Scott released two more solo singles, “Let Her Dance” and “Invisible”.
1985/86	In 1985, Andy Scott and Mick Tucker re-formed Sweet with various new vocalists and bass players, the most notable being a 1986 reunion featuring Paul Mario Day (the first singer of Iron Maiden), keyboardist Phil Lanzon, and bass player Malcolm McNulty. Steve Priest was asked to join Tucker and Scott for the 1985 Australian tour, but declined at the last moment.
1988	Connolly, Scott, Priest, and Tucker briefly reformed to record music for the first time in nine years. Some reworked studio versions of “Action”, and “Ballroom Blitz”, were recorded in Los Angeles. However, Connolly’s vocals were deemed unsatisfactory by the three other group members, hence the reunion was brief.
1990	All four members were again re-united for the promotion of a video music documentary, titled Sweet’s Ballroom Blitz. This UK release, which contained UK television performances from the 1970s, including current-day interviews, was released at Tower Records, London.
February 9, 1997	Brian Connolly passes away in a hospital in Denham, Bucks, England at the age of 51.
February 14, 2002	Mick Tucker also died in February 2002 from leukaemia, aged 54. He is buried in an un-named grave in Chorleywood. The location is 51 deg 39.644 minutes North, 0 degrees 30.330 minutes West (WGS84). It is marked by a sleeping angel.
Until today	But Sweet is still alive, Andy’s band has been on the road ever since touring and making new music, read all about that elsewhere on this site.

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