Brian Connolly

Brian Connolly
Connolly's Best of album released in 2004
Background information
Birth name	Brian Francis Connolly
Born	(1945-10-05)5 October 1945 Govanhill, Glasgow, Scotland
Origin	Harefield, Greater London, England
Died	9 February 1997(1997-02-09) (aged 51) Slough, England
Genres	Glam rock, hard rock, bubblegum pop, country rock
Occupation(s)	Musician, singer-songwriter, actor
Instruments	Vocals, synthesiser, keyboard, piano, guitar
Years active	1963–1997
Labels	Polydor, Carrere, RCA
Associated acts	The Sweet

Brian Francis Connolly (5 October 1945 – 9 February 1997) was a Scottish-born musician and actor, best known as the lead singer of the British glam rock band The Sweet.

Brian Connolly was born in 1945 in Govanhill, Glasgow. The identity of his father was never made public. His mother was a teenaged waitress, Frances Connolly, who left him in a Glasgow hospital as an infant whilst he was possibly suffering from meningitis. He was fostered, aged two, by Jim and Helen McManus of Blantyre and took their family name.

In a radio interview, Connolly reported that singing was a large part of growing up since there was no television, and that he was regularly called upon to sing for family and friends. Connolly has credited the Everly Brothers as being his earliest musical influence. After inadvertently discovering his lineage he eventually reverted to the name Connolly.

At the age of twelve Connolly moved to Harefield, Greater London, where he attended the local Secondary Modern school. In his mid-teens he joined the Merchant Navy, and got a tiger's head tattooed on his right arm during his Navy service. On his discharge from the Merchant Navy in 1963 he returned to Harefield and played in a number of local bands, including Generation X from mid-1965 until about October 1966. The group recorded four tracks but these were not commercially released. The lineup featured Connolly on vocals, Chris Eldridge and Lee Mordecai on guitars, Mark Conway (bass) and drummer Martin Lass. Connolly eventually replaced singer Ian Gillan (later of Deep Purple fame) in a band called Wainwright's Gentlemen, which included drummer Mick Tucker. Tucker and Connolly left Wainwright's Gentlemen in late 1967 and recruited guitarist Frank Torpey, and bassist Steve Priest, naming their new band The Sweetshop.

On the eve of releasing their debut single, Slow Motion, in July 1968, the band shortened their name to The Sweet. They recorded a further three unsuccessful singles; Andy Scott joined the line-up in late 1970, just before the release of their first hit single "Funny, Funny". After this, Connolly was propelled into the limelight, with many appearances on Top of the Pops, with the other members of the Sweet.