The Sweet - Greatest Hits - 1986
Brian was abandoned as an infant by his teenage mother and adopted by his foster family, the McManuses. His half brother would go on to have a successful acting career, but when Brian discovered his actual lineage, he changed his name to his mother's surname.
Replacing Ian Gillan in Wainwright's Gentlemen, Brian would become the lead singer of the Sweetshop with fellow Gentleman, Mick Tucker, eventually changing the name to The Sweet.
There's an anecdote that Brian was badly beaten at a pub just before they were supposed to go out on tour supporting The Who. So, that didn't happen.
There's a lot more to Brian's story after that. Solo work, other bands, a New Sweet, a reunion and decaying health.
In 1981, bloated and having had a bunch of heart attacks, he became paralized on one side and developed some mental disorders.
More heart attacks, liver failure, kidney failure all built to the point where Brian lost his life at 51 in 1997.
At some point he put a New Sweet together and rerecorded a bunch of the songs that had brought him fame.
This album, on Success records, might be the worst album in my collection. Brian sounds terrible. The band has no life. Might as well be karaoke.
0.5 out of 5
DownSide: The whole thing.
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