Brian Connolly was the main singer of the popular rock band The Sweet.
His popularity and money looked to be unstoppable in the 1970s with the smash hit “The Ballroom Blitz.”
But the last chapter of his life is a sad story that many people don’t know about.
Brian Connolly, the attractive lead singer of the glam rock band The Sweet, seemed to have it all. The band was the biggest thing in the 1970s, playing for huge crowds all over the world and living the high life that comes with being a superstar.
Their music is still popular with people of all ages decades later. People believed that Mick Tucker was one of the best drummers of the period and that Brian’s voice could make any stage come alive.
The Sweet came out in the middle of the 1970s, which was a great moment for rock music. Some of the most famous bands in the world were Queen, Led Zeppelin, and Aerosmith. But Sweet had it all: talent, charm, and a lot of hit tunes. They were also one of the few British bands to make it onto the charts in the US.
Everyone knows Ballroom Blitz for its wild intensity, iconic drum entrance, and electric guitars, but Sweet was more than simply a glam rock band. They were as cool as The Rolling Stones, as heavy as Deep Purple, and their tunes were as catchy as The Beatles’. Set Me Free might have been on a Judas Priest album, and Sweet F.A. had the same raw power as early AC/DC.
Sweet sold an incredible 50 million records around the world at the peak of their career.
Everything revolved around Brian Connolly. The band’s face was the charismatic leader, who looked great and had a strong stage presence. He had millions of fans, the world at his feet, and a voice that changed the way people thought. But history demonstrates that being famous and rich didn’t keep him safe from the bad things that come with being a rock star.
As an infant, they were left alone.
In 1945, Brian was born in Scotland. People called him Brian MacManus until he turned eighteen.
Brian’s life was challenging from the very beginning. As a baby, he was left alone and cared for by a nurse and her husband. Brian didn’t know who his real father was, but when he became older, he found out that he was the half-brother of Mark McManus, a famous Scottish actor who portrayed Detective Taggart in one of the UK’s longest-running TV dramas.
By the middle of the 1960s, Brian was becoming a well-known singer in the UK. He helped create the band Sweet a few years later. In the 1970s, the band became quite popular.
Andy Scott, the guitarist for the band, stated they did really well:
“During that time, a lot of money went in and out of the bank accounts. He remarked, “We became millionaires,” and then he pointed out that Sweet had 39 successes around the world and 13 top-20 singles in the UK, the biggest of which being Block Buster!
Brian Connoly’s trademark golden hair, which was styled and flicked back, was the very definition of glam rock in the 1970s. He was undoubtedly the face of Sweet.
Things started to go awry for him in 1979, when he left The Sweet to launch a solo career. At that point, he was already having difficulties with alcohol, which was affecting his standing in the band.
“It got out of hand little by little.” “I always said that if I ever wanted to stop, I could,” Connolly once stated. I don’t know what would have happened if I had said to myself, “I’ve had enough.”
His solo singles didn’t fare well, and his career never took off the way he expected it to, even though he had a lot of dedicated admirers.
He got rid of his house.
In January 1983, he had a small break when he opened for Pat Benatar at three shows in Birmingham, Newcastle, and London. But then things went very wrong with his money. The band’s hit albums cost them a lot of money in taxes, so Connolly had to sell his property to pay them off.
His health also started to go poor about the same period.
He went to the hospital in 1981 because he was so bloated. He had multiple heart attacks that left him partially paralyzed on his left side. This illness would eventually become a long-term problem with the nerve system.
In 1984, Michael and his reformed band, the New Sweet, started touring the UK and Europe again, even though he was having health problems. But because of his health, it was hard for him to keep up with the fast pace. During a tour of Australia in 1990, he was hospitalized for dehydration, and it became clear that he could no longer handle the stress of touring.
The Sweet’s name caused him to spend even more money on legal battles. In the end, the two sides went their separate ways. Brian’s band changed its name to Brian Connolly’s Sweet, and Andy Scott’s band changed its name to Andy Scott’s Sweet.
Connolly kept going on tour, but he didn’t making nearly as much money as he used to, and his health kept getting worse.
Last interview
He released a solo album called Let’s Go in 1995, and it did okay. Jean, who was 23 at the time, had their son that year. Connolly revealed in the 1996 Channel 4 documentary Don’t Leave Me This Way that he had suffered six heart attacks and that years of drinking too much had seriously harmed his body.
By the middle of the 1990s, the glam rock star who used to be the “golden boy” looked absolutely nothing like himself. He limped and shook a lot, and his performances showed how awful things had gotten for him.
Brian told writer Jasper Rees in their last interview that he had the hardest job when Sweet initially became famous. He also talked about his cardiac problems in a frank way. Connolly’s ex-wife says he suffered 13 heart attacks in 24 hours, while the singer says it was more like 12 over the course of six weeks.
At that time, he lived alone in a quiet neighborhood where not much happened. His hands were shaking, and his voice, which used to be strong, was much weaker.
He delivered his last gig at the Bristol Hippodrome on December 5, 1996. He shared the stage with Slade II and John Rossall’s Glitter Band Experience.
Just over three months later, Brian Connolly died. The former teen sensation died on February 9, 1997, at Wexham Park Hospital from kidney and liver failure that got worse after he had several heart attacks.
Later, fans gathered money for a memorial plaque at Breakspear Crematorium to memorialize the singer who once lit up stadiums around the world.
