When The Sweet were forced to part with their singer in rather chaotic circumstances, a heavy metal legend offered up his services to a band in disarray.
Andy Scott is the last man standing from the group’s 1970s heyday, which yielded timeless glam hits The Ballroom Blitz and Fox on the Run. In a new interview with Guitar World, he details how Brian Connolly’s time in the band, marred by drinking problems, came to a head during a bizarre shotgun incident.
Yet, before Connolly was shown the exit, the band was offered an escape route.
“We played some shows in America with Rainbow, and at one point, Ronnie James Dio came into the dressing room,” Scott recalls. “He said, ‘You can see what’s going on here. Brian isn’t going to last the distance. If you need some help with the vocals, I’m your man.’”
As it transpired, Dio was also looking for a change of pace. He was disenchanted with life alongside Blackmore – a man who, a former bandmate once said, “chewed up and spat out musicians.”
“He called me later and said, ‘I don’t like what’s going on with Ritchie Blackmore, and I’m looking for an escape,’” Scott goes on. “Brian was gone at that point, so I talked to the guys. Steve [Priest, bass] was so against it. He said, ‘We’ve been singing our own songs without Brian. Why would we need someone else?’”
Upon Connolly’s dismissal, the band had plowed on, with Priest handling the bulk of vocal duties rather than replacing him outright. Priest was steadfast in his thinking, and Dio was equally as determined to get his way.
“I told Ronnie how Steve felt, and he said, ‘You could always leave and join me,’” Scott reveals. “I thought, ‘Well, that’s an interesting idea,’ but I couldn’t do it. I knew that if I left The Sweet, that would be the end. The other guys weren’t band-leader types.”
Dio would get his escape, though, as he was soon selected as the man to replace Ozzy Osbourne in Black Sabbath, with Ozzy going on to make history with Randy Rhoads.
For The Sweet, their aptly-titled third album, Identity Crisis, was poorly promoted, and they’d go on to take a three-year hiatus between 1982 and 1985, before continuing as spinoff groups.
Little did they know, but the snubbing of Dio set both parties on very different paths and trajectories. Oh, what could have been...
Scott’s full interview is available in the new issue of Guitar World, which features Rush on the cover. Copies can be ordered from Magazines Direct.
