Lorraine Smith Viggoeh

About me:

I,(Lorraine), with a good deal of help from my friend,(Phoebe), have set up this site, which is dedicated to Steve Priest, bassist of The Sweet. In my opinion a very much underestimated talent. His bass lines in tracks such as Sweet FA and Turn it Down, are incredibly complex and leave me astounded every time I listen to them. Even in bass lines where he is simply keeping the rhythm his playing is precise and impeccable. Those of you who are unfamiliar with the albums 'Off the Record' and 'Give us a Wink' should really try them out. Turn the bass boost on and enter heaven!

A Brief Biography. Steve was born an 23rd Feb 1948(not 1950 as some biogs say), the third of 3 boys,in Heyes Middlesex. His first musical experience was singing in the church choir. He formed a band with his friends and built his first bass himself, with the help of his father. This band became 'The Countdowns' and played their first gig in 1964 and played local clubs including one called 'The Attic' in Hounslow. He left 'The Countdowns' to join an 8 piece band named 'The Army' where he developed his 3 finger style of playing. It was at this time that he met his first wife Pat and his daughter Lisa was born. He was approached by Brian Connolly and Mick Tucker, then in 'Wainwrights Gentlemen' to form a new band. They recruited Frank Torpey as guitarist and this new band was named 'Sweetshop'. They recorded their first single 'Slow Motion' in 1968. Frank Torpey soon left and was replaced by Mick Stewart who didn’t last long in the band. Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman were by this time managing the band and they held auditions to recruit a new guitarist, this resulted in Andy Scott joining what was now 'The Sweet'. In 1971 they had their first chart success with 'Funny Funny' and appeared both on 'Lift Off' and 'Top of the Pops' This success was followed by tours of Germany, Ireland and also Scandinavia. Soon they had earned themselves a bad boy reputation which resulted in them being banned from performing in Mecca Ballroom venues, but it didn’t stop their further rise. In 1972 more hits followed and in 1973 they had their only UK No1 hit with 'Blockbuster' and toured Hong Kong and Germany. Unfortunately midway through recording the album 'Sweet Fanny Adams' Brian was badly beaten and received a blow to the throat, Steve recorded the vocals on 'Restless' and 'No You Don’t' but Brian’s injury resulted in cancelled tour dates for that year. In 1974 they did a university tour of Britain. In 1975 they toured Australia and New Zealand. They toured the U.S for the first time In 1976 when they also toured Japan, they also did a tour of europe in this year(tours to europe were frequent in the '70's). The band saw two new members join in 1978, Gary Moberley .. - boards and Nico Resden on 2nd guitar, this year saw them tour Britain. 1979 saw another tour of the States. Sweet’s last tour was in 1981 when they played the famous gig at 'The Lyceum'. In 1981 Steve moved to New York where he married Maureen and soon their daughter Danielle was born. He briefly formed a band called 'The Allies' with Marco DelMar and Steve Missal. Steve moved to California in 1986. He met David Arkenstone and they wrote and recorded a few songs together. He also wrote and recorded songs with Brett Erikson. Some of these can be heard on Steve's CD 'Priests Precious Poems' which can be obtained from the man himself at www.thesweet.com. His family became complete when his daughter Maggie came along.In 2007 Steve worked with Mikael Kirke, producing his CD 'Piece of the Action' (see Mikael’s MySpace page). Steve has now formed his own version of 'Sweet' Why not visit his myspace page or the official sweet website www.thesweetband.com STEVE'S BOOK.. 'Are You Ready Steve' the autobiography is now available as a PDF for download. Go here for more details. http://www.thesweet.com/page11.html .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

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