Steve Priest

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Stephen Norman "Steve" Priest (born February 23, 1948 in Hayes , London , England; † June 4, 2020 ) was a British musician and founding member, bassist and lead and background singer of the British rock band The Sweet .

biography

Steve Priest had made his first electric bass himself at a young age . Later he preferred to use Rickenbacker basses . As a teenager, he was musically influenced by artists and bands such as Jet Harris , The Shadows , The Rolling Stones and The Who .

Career with The Sweet

In January 1968 Priest was invited to form a new band, with Brian Connolly , Mick Tucker and Frank Torpey. The band initially called itself "Sweetshop". Torpey was later replaced by Mick Stewart, who in turn was replaced by Andy Scott in August 1970 . In the same year the band name was shortened to "The Sweet".

With this line-up, The Sweet became the most commercially successful British glam rock band of the 1970s. The great success of the band was largely based on the collaboration with the songwriter duo Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman . Priest often accompanied Connolly's lead voice directly as a background voice, and he also sang short lead passages. When the collaboration with Connolly ended in 1979, he, Andy Scott and Mick Tucker continued The Sweet as a trio. Priest and Scott took on the lead vocals. However, success declined until the band broke up in 1982.

Emigration to the USA

After divorcing his first wife, Pat, Priest moved to New York City . On June 18, 1981, he married his second wife Maureen, who was employed in New York at Capitol / EMI Records . He founded the band The Allies with guitarist Marco Delmar and drummer Steve Missal. Notable successes were not recorded, except that her composition Talk to Me was played in the film Fast Food . In 1985 Andy Scott was invited to a reunion by The Sweet, but Priest declined. Shortly thereafter, he moved to Los Angeles. Priest had largely withdrawn into his private life by this time. Only occasionally did he take part in productions or sessions. There was a collaboration with David Arkenstone and his later bandmate Stuart Smith.

In 1988, however, Steve Priest took part in demo sessions with all members of the original cast of The Sweet in Los Angeles, produced by Mike Chapman. An attempt was made to manage a reunion and a studio album. However, the band could not agree and the project was discontinued. Despite the difficulties of the late seventies, he was able to continue his friendship with Brian Connolly, who was in poor health at the time.

In 1994 Priest published his autobiography Are You Ready, Steve? , In 2006 he released the album Priest's Precious Poems . In January 2008 he founded a new band formation under the name Sweet (December 2014 with Richie Onori, Joe Retta and Steve Stewart). However, this was not related to Andy Scott's current band Sweet. Priests Sweet played mainly at festivals and events in the US and Canada. So there were two bands under the name Sweet, but they didn't compete in any way. Priests Sweet released a live album in 2009 that was recorded in August 2008 at the Morongo Casino in Cabazon, California.

Steve Priest lived in La Cañada Flintridge, California with his wife Maureen and daughters Lisa, Danielle and Margaret .

literature

  • Bubi Heilemann , Sabine Thomas: The Sweet: live on tour - at home - studio - backstage - private. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-89602-649-6 . (German)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sweet: Bassist and singer Steve Priest is dead. In: rollingstone.de. Retrieved June 4, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Steve Priest - bass, vocals. In: thesweetband.com. Retrieved June 4, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Live! In: thesweetband.com. Archived from the original on December 20, 2014 ; accessed on June 4, 2020 (English).
  4. ↑ Steve Priest . TheSweetBand.com. 2008. Retrieved December 11, 2008.
personal data
SURNAME Priest, Steve
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Priest, Stephen Norman
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British musician and founding member of the British rock band The Sweet
DATE OF BIRTH February 23, 1948
PLACE OF BIRTH Hayes , Middlesex , England
DATE OF DEATH 4th June 2020