Brian Connolly

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Brian Connolly
Background information
Birth name	Brian Francis McManus (Adopted surname)
Born	5 October 1945(1945-10-05)
Origin	Hamilton, Scotland
Died	9 February 1997 (aged 51)
Genre(s)	Hard rock, glam rock
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter
Years active	1963–1997

Brian Francis Connolly (5 October 1945 – 9 February 1997 [1]) was a Scottish rock vocalist, best known as the lead singer for the glam rock band, Sweet.

Early life

Brian Connolly was born in 1945 in Govanhill, Glasgow, (some early Sweet biographies claim he was born in 1949). Whilst the true identity of Brian's father was never made public, his mother was a teenaged waitress named Frances Connolly. He was left in a Glasgow hospital by his mother as an infant whilst possibly suffering effects of meningitis. He was fostered, aged two, by Jim and Helen McManus of Blantyre and took their family name. When he was aged about eighteen he inadvertently discovered his lineage and reverted to the name Connolly. Numerous sources have asserted that he was a half brother of the late actor Mark McManus (who found fame in the title role of detective series "Taggart") but they were related.

Early music career and Sweet

At the age of twelve Connolly moved to Harefield, Middlesex. Connolly played in a number of local bands before eventually replacing singer Ian Gillan (later of Deep Purple and Black Sabbath fame) in a band called Wainwright's Gentlemen, which included drummer Mick Tucker. Wainwright's Gentlemen split up in 1968 without releasing any recordings. Connolly and Tucker remained together and then recruited guitarist Frank Torpey, and bassist Steve Priest. They named their new band Sweetshop. The group recorded several singles and eventually shortened their name to Sweet; Andy Scott joined the line-up in late 1970, just before the release of their first hit single Funny, Funny.

Over the next eight years Connolly sang on many internationally successful singles and six albums with Sweet until his drinking problem caused him to leave the band in late 1978 although the announcement of his departure was not made public until March 1979. Connolly alleged in a Guardian interview in 1996 that the others but particularly Scott were deliberately composing songs in a key that was difficult for him to sing in to justify ejecting him. He also maintained that Scott was always jealous of his role as frontman an accusation that gains some weight from the fact that Scott took over as lead singer on subsequent releases. Andy Scott told Mojo magazine in 2008: "I think we'd known there was a problem [with Brian] as far back as the US tour in 1975. We'd say: 'Let's try having a non-drinking day', but it was hard." Scott likely was referring to an incident at a reception following a poorly-received show at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on September 13, 1975, when a visibly intoxicated Connolly responded to media questioning in rock star fashion: "He unzipped his trousers, revealed himself, and declared, 'This is what I think of interviewers.'" A concert review put it this way: "[A]n unexpected organ solo later that night made the evening somewhat diverting, although not totally satisfying. ... The band's opening American engagement was not an overwhelming success, but they may just need a little more exposure."^[1]

After Sweet

After leaving Sweet, Connolly launched a solo career that had little success. Over the next three years he released a handful of singles ("Take Away The Music", "Don't You Know A Lady" and "Hypnotised") under his name but these made little or no impact on the charts. He also recorded a dozen or so new tracks but most never got past the demo stage, although one, the never-officially-released "Magic Circle" (1985), was a potent reminder of Brian's wonderfully melodic voice.

In late 1982 he survived multiple heart attacks in a single night, but his health was permanently affected.

At the start of 1983 Connolly supported Pat Benatar at Hammersmith Odeon, London with Connolly's Encore, a band that included most of the members of Verity (fronted by ex-Argent guitarist John Verity.) Also in the line-up that night was Terry Uttley, bass player from Smokie. Songs played included "Windy City", "Fox on the Run", "Hypnotized" and new numbers, "Sick and Tired", "Red Rage" and "The Candle." An MP3 download of this short concert is currently being hosted on torrent sites Mininova and The Pirate Bay and is possibly the only source available of hearing some of these otherwise unrecorded songs.

Despite ill health Connolly toured with his backing bands New Sweet and Brian Connolly's Sweet from 1984 onwards. In 1988 Connolly reunited in Los Angeles with former band-members Scott, Priest and Tucker to rework studio versions of "Action" and "The Ballroom Blitz". This Mike Chapman-produced reunion floundered quickly and Brian went back to performing with his unknown and often changing backing band.

Sweet reunited again in 1990 for the promotion of a music video documentary and again there were rumours of a full band reunion which, ultimately, came to naught. However, by the late 1990s Connolly's previous drinking problem had taken a toll on his body, and he died of liver failure on 9 February 1997. He was survived by two daughters, Nicola and Michelle, and a son Brian James (BJ) who lives in the south of Spain.

References

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• Biography at Hot Shot Digital