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Several Sweet tours including some faraway places, above the Arctic Circle, Greenland and Singapore were negotiated without drama but in true Sweet fashion there was darkness on the horizon, Steve Mann left the band to become head of Audio Post Production at Channel 4 TV. The recordings were faultless and have fooled many people with the accuracy of performance and sound production from Andy. The new vocalist was to be Chad Brown and Sweet immediately settled in to record an album of re-records of the hit singles entitled "Glitz Blitz & Hitz". 1994 saw another rather unexpected change when Mal decided it was time to move on and everyone was sad to see him leave. The "A" Tour as it became known was another nutcracker taking in the USA and Australia this time but the band weathered it well. Andy had worked with Bruce on recording sessions as a producer and musician so knew he would be the right man for the job. The very well received album "A" was recorded at Steve Mann's studio in Hannover in 1991 and made an impact on the charts in several territories.īodo felt his time with Sweet was always temporary so his replacement came in the shape of Bruce Bisland. His place was taken by Bodo Schopf as a temporary drummer but Mick was never to return to the band. He'd had an epileptic fit and a recurrence of a previous health problem, pancreatitis. In 1990 Mick Tucker fell ill on one of the biggest tours to date, a European venture that was to take in 9 countries in 6 weeks. Tours of USA, Europe followed as the band continued it's upward surge. After a couple of dry runs the new band had Mal McNulty move to Lead Vocals, Steve Mann on Keyboards/Guitars and Jeff Brown on Bass. All good things must change so when Paul decided to live permanently in Australia and Phil left to join Uriah Heep the band needed new blood. "Live At The Marquee" was recorded during a three night sell out blitz at The Marquee Club in London just before the infamous venue closed it's doors for good and has pride of place as an historic event for the band. Tours of Australia and Europe were first on the agenda selling out everywhere. Vocalist - Paul Mario Day, Keyboards and Vocals - Phil Lanzon and on Bass and Vocals - Mal McNulty joined Andy and Mick to begin the new chapter of Sweet. The first reformed line-up of Sweet in 1985 was very much a heavy rock ensemble. Steve eventually pulled away from the reformation citing that he did not want to tour any more, leaving Mick and Andy to find other musicians. Steve was duly contacted and it looked for a while that he would rejoin when the plan was solid. Andy's career as a solo artist/record producer/session musician was just about ticking over and he finally came to the conclusion that the triumphant return of Sweet would be a good idea and has never looked back since.Īfter a couple of late nights with Mick Tucker, Andy contacted Agent Nigel and the grand reformation was set in motion. They went for a pint and the seed was sown for Sweet to reform and go back on the road. It was just before Christmas 1984 with Andy now living in Central London when he met Sweet's former agent in the street. With Steve now living in the USA and Mick coming to terms with life after the sudden death of his first wife, the Sweet found themselves at a crossroads once again. The band finally ran out of road by 1981/82 with the posthumous release of "Identity Crisis". "Cut Above The Rest" and "Waters Edge", though highly rated by reviewers did not reach the same criteria with sales. His well documented alcoholism damaged his health during the gruelling tour schedules of the USA and things were never the same after his departure. With good news there is often bad and Brian was soon to leave Sweet. In 1978 "Love Is Like Oxygen" written by Andy Scott and Trevor Griffin won an Ivor Novello nomination and an Ascap Award in the USA, the future was looking good. This immediately propelled the band back to the top, a worldwide hit single and album, just what was needed. The albums "Give Us A Wink" and " Off The Record " and the subsequent singles, "Lies In Your Eyes", "Lost Angels", "Fever Of Love" and "Stairway To The Stars" had less impact but the hectic touring continued and the writing was on the wall - Sweet needed a fresh start.Įnter " Love Is Like Oxygen " from the album "Level Headed". " Fox On The Run " hit the top 3 in the USA and is still the biggest selling single worldwide, hotly followed by the musicians' favourite "Action", Sweet were at the very top. In 1975 the USA had discovered Sweet and the band embarked on their toughest touring schedules to date but with it brought success in the form of albums and singles. In 1974 The Who invited Sweet to play on the legendary Charlton Athletic gig but sadly it was not to be after Brian Connolly was involved in a nasty attack outside a night club and sustained injuries to his throat.