In 1973, two songs with an almost identical guitar riff went head to head for coveted no.1 spot. In the end David Bowie’s The Jean Genie was pipped by The Sweet’s Block Buster.

The glam rock band, who had already enjoyed chart success, went on to have a string of no.2s including Hell Raiser, Teenage Rampage and The Ballroom Blitz. And, remarkably, the band are still going strong today, led by the guitarist on those songs, Andy Scott.

Between 2003 and 2006, and again between 2015 and 2019, Droitwich singer Tony O’Hora was an integral member of the band.

The Sweet’s website says of Tony joining the band: ”His vocal range is stratospheric and once we realised that he could play bass too then like a phoenix rising we were on our way. Tony brought a new dimension that is still prevalent today.”

It added: ”In 2005 Tony had been working at a music college and enjoying the experience so he initially tried to keep everyone happy – band, home and college. This was always going to be a problem and the band lost. He found it the hardest of decisions but everyone respected him for it and had to move on.”

The website says London-born Tony, who also played keyboards, abruptly left the band for a second time after ”personal problems”. He left Droitwich around the same time.

Before The Sweet, Tony was a member of the heavy metal band Praying Mantis for five years.

See Tony on stage with The Sweet here