Stephen Priest, founding member and bass player of The Sweet, was born in Hayes, England. Influenced as a young teen by Jet Harris of The Shadows, as well as by such seminal acts as the Rolling Stones and The Who, he crafted his own homemade bass and began playing in local bands.

After doing some session work and serving as a member of such British groups as Army and The Countdowns, Steve was invited in January 1968 to form a four piece band with vocalist Brian Connolly, drummer Mick Tucker, and guitarist Frank Torpey. Their original moniker, Sweetshop, was appropriated without authorization by another local group, and so the band name was shortened to The Sweet. The group went through two guitar players; Frank Torpey left to get married, and replacement Mick Stewart departed after the fledgling band's first singles failed to chart.

Around this time, the band was introduced by a friend named Phil Wainman to a new song writing team

comprised of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. The pair had a song they wanted to promote and Sweet was given the job. After hours of auditions, Andy Scott was hired as the new guitarist, and, in 1971, Funny Funny was released and reached number 13 on the U.K. charts. Phil Wainman was the executive producer, and a management deal was inked which also included a worldwide (except U.S.) record contract with RCA Records.

Chinn and Chapman wrote five more Top 40 hits for the group, including "Little Willy" and "Wig Wam Bam" which were all lightweight bubblegum numbers loaded with double entendres and aimed at a teenage audience. During that time, Sweet were writing their own B-sides and album tracks. All of the group's compositions were harder than Chinn and Chapman's songs, featuring crunching hard rock guitars. Consequently, Chapman

decided to write tougher songs for the group. The first effort in this vein, "Blockbuster," was the biggest hit Sweet ever had in the U.K., reaching number one on the charts in early 1973 and eventually going platinum.

For the next two years, Sweet continued to chart with Chinn and Chapman compositions, including the top ten hits "Hell Raiser," "Ballroom Blitz," "Teenage Rampage," and "The Six Teens." The next album, Sweet Fanny Adams, reached number 27 in the U.K., but it yielded no hits. After more touring, the band went back into the studio and recorded the "Desolation Boulevard" album in just ten days.

Events took a turn for the worse when Brian Connolly was attacked outside a pub in Staines, badly damaging his throat and putting the band's future in doubt. As a result of Brian's injuries, Steve Priest had to finish vocals on the album. The Sweet badly needed a new single, but Chinn and Chapman seemed to have lost interest. Steve decided to take the band back into the studio and re-record "Fox On The Run" as a single. Sweet had their first self-penned hit with "Fox on the Run," which reached the Top Ten in both the U.K. and the U.S. "Fox on the Run" appeared on the collection Desolation Boulevard; in America, its release helped "Ballroom Blitz" reach the Top Ten in the summer of 1975.

As the group's popularity grew, Sweet put in a heavy rotation of U.K. and European TV promotional spots, including numerous appearances on Top of the Pops and Supersonic. In one performance of "Block Buster!" on Top of the Pops, Priest aroused complaints after he appeared wearing a Nazi uniform and displaying a swastika armband. It was all tongue in cheek of course.

Strung Up, released in the fall of 1975, continued the group's move toward album-oriented rock. Sweet bounced back into the charts in 1978 with "Love Is Like Oxygen." The group carried on for three more years, releasing three more albums and then broke up in 1981. Sweet performed their last live show at Glasgow University on 20 March 1981.

Priest now lived in New York City and started to tire of the commute to England for nothing. He formed a band wth guitarist Marco Delmar Guitarist/singer/writer, Drummer Steve Missal (Billy Idol) and called themselves the Allies. After months of trying to get gigs dcided to disband although we did write a song called Talk To Me which ended up in a movie called Fast Food. His now wife Maureen who worked for Capitol records at the time was transferred to Los Angeles which is where Steve met Stuart Smith and tried to reform Sweet.

It took ages and an attempt to eventually get Mick and Brian involved using Deep Purples Manager sadly came to an end after Connolly's sad demise In 1996 Priest published his autobiography are You Ready Steve?, which was a raw expose of his time with Sweet and in 2006 released Priest's Precious Poems, a CD of tracks largely comprised of his more recent material. In January 2008 Steve contacted old band mate Stuart Smith and the Sweet was reformed.

Steve Priest lives with his family in California.