Sweet - Give Us A Wink [16]

Title: Sweet - Give Us A Wink
Year/Genre/Sub-Genre/City: 1976, Glam Rock, Hard Rock, London, England 10/26
Matrix #: ST-11496 (Capitol, US, orange label); runout not legible in photo
Condition: EX (LM) | Members: Brian C (45' - 97'), Steve P (48' - 20'), Andy S (49' - ), Mick T (47' - 02') | Producer: Sweet
Cultural Facts: [16]

1. Left at a Glasgow Hospital: Brian Connolly was born in 1945 to a teenage waitress who left him in a Glasgow hospital as a baby. At two he was fostered by Jim and Helen McManus of Blantyre and grew up as Brian McManus, believing they were his real family, until he found out the truth at 18 and took back his birth mother's name. His first wife Marilyn, who met him when he was a carpet salesman, said feeling like a nobody made him determined to become somebody very special.
2. Replacing Ian Gillan: Before Sweet, Connolly took over the singer's spot from Ian Gillan, later of Deep Purple, in a Harrow cover band called Wainwright's Gentlemen, where he met drummer Mick Tucker. The two left in late 1967, grabbed bassist Steve Priest and called themselves the Sweetshop, then shortened it to the Sweet on the eve of their first single in 1968. Andy Scott did not join until late 1970, just before their first hit, Funny Funny.
3. Breaking Up With the Hit Factory: This was the first album the band wrote and produced entirely on their own, after years of hits from songwriters Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. Much of it was cut at Musicland Studios in Munich. The US Capitol version flipped the two sides and added Lady Starlight, a song American fans could not otherwise get, and the original sleeve was die-cut so one of the eyes winks when the inner sleeve slides in and out.