On this day in 1949, Andrew David "Andy" Scott was born. Andy Scott is a Welsh musician and songwriter from Wrexham, best known for his role as lead guitarist and a backing vocalist for The Sweet. Following the unfortunate passing of Steve Priest in June, Scott is now the last surviving member of The Sweet’s classic line-up that rock fans know and love today.
Scott started out as a bass guitarist, moving onto lead guitarist in his later days. In November 1963, Andy played his first gig at St Peters Hall in Wrexham with Welsh band The Rasjaks. He then went on to play with other band in Wales, including Guitars Incorporated and 3Ds, which was a stepping-stone for his musical success.
After progressing to guitar, Scott played with other bands including The Saints, The ForeWinds, and The Missing Links. After this, In 1966 he joined The Silverstone Set (later shortened to The Silverstones), who won the TV show Opportunity Knocks five weeks running, and appeared in the all-winners show for Christmas 1966, losing to Freddie Starr. One of their further highlights was to support Jimi Hendrixin Manchester in January 1967.
When The Silverstones split, Scott went on to form The Elastic Band, who recorded an album called Expansions of Life. Lead singer Ted Yeadon left to join Love Affair, however, before the album's release and the band folded. During this time they also recorded the album Pop Sounds, under the name The Cool.
Scott then played in the backing band for The Scaffold, which also included his brother Mike on bass and saxophone. He went on to join Mayfield's Mule, who recorded three singles, "Drinking My Moonshine", "I See a River" and "We Go Rollin'". An album was also released in Uruguay called Mayfields Mule with the song titles translated on the sleeve into Spanish.
In the late summer of 1970, Scott replaced Mick Stewart in glam rock band The Sweet after an audition in front of Brian Connolly, Steve Priest and Mick Tucker, as well as group managers Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. He was one of the last guitarists to audition. According to Steve Priest's autobiography "Are You Ready Steve", Scott turned up looking pretty untidy, with very long hair and scruffy clothes. He plugged his guitar in and immediately blew the fuse on the amp. He eventually performed his piece and the members of the band thought he should join The Sweet. The rest is history…
Happy birthday, Andy!
