He once owned eight cars, a yacht, and a mansion. By the time he died, Brian Connolly was living in public housing and drawing unemployment benefit.
Connolly was the voice behind Sweet’s “Ballroom Blitz” and “Block Buster” — songs that defined glam rock in the 1970s and helped the British band sell tens of millions of records worldwide. He had the looks, the voice, and, for a while, the fortune.
A Childhood Built on Secrets
Connolly’s story started with abandonment. Born in Scotland in 1945, he was left at a Glasgow hospital as an infant by his teenage mother. He was fostered at age two by Jim and Helen McManus and took their surname, unaware for years that he wasn’t their biological son.
At 18, he learned the truth and reverted to his birth mother’s name, Connolly. For decades, it was widely reported that he was the half-brother of actor Mark McManus, star of the British detective series “Taggart.” Genealogical researchers have since disputed that claim, concluding the two shared a family connection through his foster father — but not blood.
From Stardom to a Tax Bill
Sweet’s success was real and enormous. Guitarist Andy Scott later said the band reached “millionaire status,” with 39 worldwide hits. But Connolly’s exit from the group in 1979, driven partly by worsening alcoholism, marked the start of a steep decline.
His solo career never took off. Then came a financial blow: a massive tax bill tied to the band’s earnings forced him to sell his house.
A Body Breaking Down
His health collapsed alongside his finances. In 1981, he was hospitalized with severe bloating and suffered multiple heart attacks — accounts of exactly how many, and over what span, vary depending on the source. He was left with partial paralysis on one side of his body.
He kept performing anyway, touring with a reformed version of Sweet through the 1980s and into the 1990s, even as his health deteriorated further. A 1996 documentary showed a man who walked with a limp, shook visibly, and had lost much of the vocal power that once filled stadiums.
What We Know
Connolly played his final concert on December 5, 1996, in Bristol.
He died February 9, 1997, at Wexham Park Hospital in Slough, England, at age 51.
The official cause was kidney and liver failure, compounded by repeated heart attacks.
He was cremated on February 17, 1997, and fans later funded a memorial plaque in his honor.
Why This Matters
Connolly’s decline echoes a pattern familiar to American audiences who’ve watched other music icons — from disco to hair metal — go from packed arenas to obscurity within a decade. It’s a story about how quickly fame can evaporate, and how addiction and financial mismanagement can strip away everything a person built, regardless of talent.
It’s also a reminder that the sensational version of a story isn’t always the accurate one. Even the exact number of heart attacks that led to his death remains disputed by the people who were there.
Sweet’s music still plays on classic rock radio decades later. The man behind that voice spent his final years struggling to be heard at all.
