The nucleus of The Sweet came together in 1966, when drummer Michael Thomas Tucker (b. 17 July 1947, Harlesden, London, England) and vocalist Brian Francis Connolly (b. 5 October 1945, Hamilton, Scotland) played together in Wainwright's Gentlemen, a band whose repertoire comprised a mixture of Motown, R&B and psychedelia. The pair broke away to form Sweetshop, later shortened to just Sweet, with Steve Norman Priest (b. 23 February 1950, Hayes, Middlesex) on bass and Frank Torpey (2) on guitar. After releasing four unsuccessful singles on Fontana and EMI, Torpey was replaced by first Mick Stewart, and then Mick by Andrew David Scott (b. 30 June 1949, Wrexham, Wales) and the new line-up signed to RCA. The band were introduced to the writing partnership of Chinn and Chapman, who were to provide the band with a string of hit singles.However, the band were writing their own hard-rock numbers on the b-sides of these hits. The group's determinedly effete, glam-rock image was reinforced by a succession of Top 10 hits.