The Sweet founder Steve Priest dies aged 72, band confirm
The Sweet founder Steve Priest has died aged 72.
The band announced the musician had passed away on Thursday morning, in a statement issued on their Facebook page.
It read: ‘Dear Friends and Fans, We have very sad news – Please see the below statement from Steve Priest’s family.
The Sweet founder Steve Priest has died aged 72 (pictured L-R Mick Tucker, Brian Connolly (lead singer), Steve and Andy Scott)
‘Love, Richie, Stevie, Mitch & Paulie…
‘It is with a heavy heart that we announce at 8:25am PT today, Steve Priest, founding member of The Sweet, passed away.
‘He is survived by his wife, Maureen, three daughters, Lisa, Danielle & Maggie and 3 grandchildren, Jordan, Jade & Hazel.’
The musician was born in Hayes, Middlesex.
He began playing bass guitar as a young teenager, after being influenced by artists such as Jet Harris of the Shadows, the Rolling Stones and The Who.
In January 1968, Priest was invited to form a four-piece band with vocalist Brian Connolly, drummer Mick Tucker, and guitarist Frank Torpey – the band that was to become The Sweet.
Torpey was replaced by Mick Stewart in 1969. Guitarist Andy Scott joined in August 1970, following Stewart’s departure and the classic line-up established.
The band had hits with songs including Funny Funny (1971) and Blockbuster, which spent five weeks at number one in 1973.
Hell Raiser, The Ballroom Blitz and Teenage Rampage all got to number two in the charts in 1973.
They had their last top ten hit in 1978 with Love is Like Oxygen.
The following year their Scottish lead singer Brian Connolly left the band to go solo and Sweet split up in 1981.
Since the 1980s, guitarist Scott, Connolly and bassist Steve Priest have played with different line-ups of Sweet.
Connolly died in 1997 and drummer Mick Tucker in 2002