In 1974, former
Pickettywitch member and session backing vocalist
Polly Brown recorded a cover of an ABBA album track, "Honey Honey". This was produced by
Ron Roker and
Gerry Shury, with the former also supplying the male vocal on the track. Tony Jackson was recruited to act as a partner for Brown in their performances for the single. Jackson, born in
Barbados 17 March 1944, had moved to London in 1965 and spent five years as a member of reggae outfit the Skatalites who had the No. 36 hit "Guns of Navarone" in 1967. Before being recruited by Roker to partner Brown live and on Sweet Dreams' post-"Honey Honey" recordings, Jackson had spent some time fronting Gulliver's People, the house band at the
Shaftesbury Avenue, London nightclub Tiffany's. Jackson and Brown appeared on
TOTP performing "Honey, Honey" and subsequently recorded tracks to complete a Sweet Dreams album entitled ''We'll Be Your Music''. "Honey Honey" entered the
UK Top 50 at No. 46 on the chart dated 20 July 1974. It eventually rose to a No. 10 peak at the end of August. It also reached No. 14 in the
Republic of Ireland. Outside the UK, the Sweet Dreams version of "Honey Honey" was bested by the single release of the ABBA original, although the Sweet Dreams version did enter the charts in Germany and the US despite ABBA's version being a greater success in both markets. Sweet Dreams' "Honey Honey" reached No. 42 in Germany and No. 68 in the US where ABBA's version reached respectively No. 2 and #27. To join Brown and Jackson in Sweet Dreams' live performances, Roker and Shury recruited the line-up of Love Lane, the house band at the La Dolce Vita club Birmingham & various "Tiffanys" venues, specifically Robert Young (born Robert Parkes (drums/vocals ) Stuart Armstrong,(keyboards/vocals) and Stephen Parkes,(bass/vocals) plus the duo Kim and Kerry (guitar/vocals) who were John Brindley and Marie. Unusually for the time, the band travelled and used a "Mellotron" and "Moog" synths and could create a full and almost "as per record" sound in their live performances. Sweet Dreams made their live debut opening for
the Three Degrees at the Southport Theatre. Brown sometimes performed as Sweet Dreams' vocalist in
blackface and was billed as Sara Leone, a reference to the African country
Sierra Leone. Brown and Jackson had six single releases as Sweet Dreams, the rest of which were overlooked. Sweet Dreams had their highest post-"Honey Honey" profile when Brown and Jackson competed in the 1976
A Song for Europe bidding to represent the UK at that year's Eurovision with the song "Love Kiss and Run" a
Barry Blue/ Stephen Worth composition which placed fourth. Roker and Shury were not associated with this Sweet Dreams project, but did contribute another
Song for Europe entrant "Do You Believe in Love at First Sight" which was performed by Brown solo (Roker and Shury having produced solo records for Brown concurrently with recording her in Sweet Dreams) – to finish tenth. (That year's Eurovision UK entrant and eventual Eurovision winner was
Brotherhood of Man's "
Save Your Kisses for Me".) Brown' solo recordings were released on the
GTO label where Jackson also had a 1975 single: "As if by Magic", produced by Roker and Shury. Jackson sang the theme song for the 1976 film
The Cassandra Crossing and pursued a session singing career notably on the hits "
Knock on Wood" by
Amii Stewart, "
Every Time You Go Away" by
Paul Young and "
Wishing Well" by
Terence Trent D'Arby. Jackson continued to cut occasional solo tracks including a 1994
disco version of "
(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" credited to Q(11) featuring Tony Jackson.
Sweet Dreams would later be the name of another group, who represented the UK at
Eurovision 1983, with "
I'm Never Giving Up". By an apparent coincidence, the song by this male/female group – a totally different outfit – a trio with two females and one male – was co-written by Ron Roker. == Discography ==