Just happened to stumble on this for thoes of us who are old enough to remember Sweet , I always liked the song " Fox on the Run "
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 Mc Manus of Blantyre and took their family name. When he was aged about eighteen he inadvertantly discovered his lineage and reverted to the name Connolly. His brother was not the late actor Mark "Taggart" McManus as is occasionally claimed. Mark's father and Brian's foster father Jim were brothers, thus making Mark McManus his (foster) cousin. The confusion is largely due to the fact that Jim McManus also had a son named Mark, and he and Brian grew up together.
At the age of twelve Connolly moved to Harefield, Middlesex. Connolly played in a number of local bands before 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 as the band started to become famous. Over the next thirteen years Connolly recorded 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.
After leaving Sweet, Connolly launched a solo career that had little success. In 1981 he survived multiple heart attacks in a single night, but his health was permanently affected. Despite this Connolly toured with his backing bands New Sweet and Brian Connolly's Sweet. In 1988 Connolly reunited with former bandmates Scott, Priest and Tucker to rework studio versions of "Action" and "Ballroom Blitz". The four reunited again in 1990 for the promotion of a music video documentary. 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, Nicole and Michelle, and a son Brian James (BJ).
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Originally Posted by scootershort
