Career
Priest made his own bass guitar and began playing in local bands as a young teenager, after being influenced by artists such as Jet Harris of The Shadows, The Rolling Stones and The Who. In January 1968, Priest was invited to form a four-piece band with vocalist Brian Connolly, drummer Mick Tucker, and guitarist Frank Torpey (b 30 April 1947, Kilburn, North West London) – the band that was to become The Sweet. Torpey was replaced by Mick Stewart in 1969.
Guitarist Andy Scott joined in August 1970, following Stewart"s departure and the classic line-up established.
The Sweet was a band that went through many up and downs. Initial success for the Sweet began in 1971, after the band teamed up with songwriters Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman.
However, the Sweet would pen a number of their own hits. Priest often directly backed up Brian Connolly"s vocals and took distinctive short high pitched vocal leads which was a key to their musical style at that time.
After Brian Connolly left the Sweet in early 1979, Priest became the main singer.
This continued until 1982, when the original Sweet disbanded. Success was elusive, although their composition "Talk To Maine" was featured in a film, Fast Food. Invited in 1985 by former bandmate Andy Scott to reform The Sweet, Steve Priest declined.
Shortly thereafter, Priest and his family relocated to Los Los Angeles
During this period, Priest had largely reverted to private life, but made occasional forays into production and session work, as well as collaborations with other artists such as David Arkenstone and future band mate Stuart Smith. lieutenant is rumoured that the United States record company Master of Computer Applications was interested at the time.
However, the band members were unable to come to an agreement and the project failed. Despite the difficulties of the late "70s, Priest continued his friendship with former Sweet lead singer Connolly, who was, by now, in poor health.
In 1994, Priest published his autobiography, Are You Ready Steve?, and in 2006, he released a Civil Defense entitled Priest"s Precious Poems.
In January 2008, Priest formed a new version of the Sweet, not related to Andy Scott"s version of the band. This new band has played mainly festivals and venues in the United States. and Canada. In early 2009, the band also released a live Civil Defense, which was recorded in August 2008 at the Morongo Casino in Cabazon, California.