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Bay City Rollers
The Bay City Rollers
Background information
Also known as The Rollers
Origin Flag of Scotland Scotland
Genre(s) Pop
Rock
Bubblegum pop
Years active 1969–1981
Label(s) Bell Records
Arista Records
Epic Records
Associated
acts		 Kenny
Members
Nobby Clark
John Devine
Eric Faulkner
Duncan Faure
Al Longmuir
Derek Longmuir
Billy Lyall
Archie Marr
Russ Powell
Eric Manclark
Pat McGlynn
Les McKeown
Ian Mitchell
David Paton
Stuart Wood

The Bay City Rollers were a Scottish Pop/rock band of the 1970s. Their youthful, clean-cut image, distinct styling featuring tartan-trimmed outfits, and cheery, sing-along pop hits helped the group become among the most popular musical acts of their time. For a relatively brief but fervent period (nicknamed "Rollermania"), they were a worldwide sensation.

Since the band's quick rise to, and subsequent fall from fame, the members have endured numerous and varied struggles regarding royalty payments, substance abuse, and personal legal problems.

Contents

  • 1 History
    • 1.1 Early Days: Formation-1973
    • 1.2 British Breakthrough: 1974-75
    • 1.3 World Impact: 1976
    • 1.4 1977 and on
  • 2 UK Discography
  • 3 Who Got All the Money?
  • 4 References
  • 5 External links

History

Early Days: Formation-1973

Bassist Al Longmuir, his younger brother Derek Longmuir, a drummer, along with school mate, lead singer Gordon "Nobby" Clark founded the group in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1967, as The Saxons. Shortly afterwards, seeking a less English-sounding moniker, they chose a new name allegedly by throwing a dart at a map of the United States. The dart landed on the map in the state of Arkansas, but since "Arkansas Rollers" did not sound quite right, and might also lead to problems with pronunciation, they tried again and this time the dart landed near the community of Bay City, Michigan.

The Bay City Rollers were managed from early on by the imposing and controversial Tam Paton, himself a former big band leader. Paton was notorious for his rigid control over all aspects of the band's career, including the shuffling in and out of group members at a very high rate.

They received their first break when prominent record executive Dick Leahy caught their act by chance in an Edinburgh club. After signing with Leahy's Bell Records, the band's first hit was "Keep on Dancing" (UK #9, 1971), a cover of a 1965 Gentrys hit, recorded at the suggestion of pop impresario and producer Jonathan King. At this time Nobby Clark, was backed on vocals on "Keep on Dancing" by King himself. Upon this release's success, they made guest appearances on BBC-TV's Top of the Pops. The group then won a Radio Luxembourg-sponsored song contest with the tune "Mañana", which was later popular in parts of Europe and in Israel.

Several non-charting singles were released over the following two years. In late 1973 they narrowly missed the UK chart with "Saturday Night", one of many singles written and produced for the band by the highly successful songwriting duo of Scotsman Bill Martin and Irishman Phil Coulter.

By the end of 1973, Nobby Clark had become disillusioned by the band's lack of success and decided to move on.

British Breakthrough: 1974-75

The single cover of one of the Bay City Rollers's biggest hits, "Bye Bye Baby"
The single cover of one of the Bay City Rollers's biggest hits, "Bye Bye Baby"

Leslie McKeown was hired to replace Nobby Clark. McKeown hastily re-recorded lead vocals of the group's forthcoming single, "Remember (Sha La La La)", which became a sizable hit.

Beginning with "Remember" (UK #6), the Rollers' popularity exploded, and they released a string of very successful hits on the British charts. Following in succession were "Shang-a-Lang" (UK #2), "Summerlove Sensation" (UK #3), and "All of Me Loves All of You" (UK #4).

By the spring of 1975, they were one of the highest-selling acts in Britain. That year saw a successful UK tour (which prompted newspaper headlines about "Rollermania"), and a 20-week UK television series, Shang-a-Lang.

A cover of the Four Seasons' "Bye, Bye, Baby", stayed at #1 in the UK for six weeks in the spring of 1975, selling nearly a million copies to become the biggest seller of the year, and the subsequent single "Give a Little Love" topped the charts that summer, their second #1 hit. At the peak of their popularity in the UK, comparisons were even made to The Beatles.

By this time, BCR fans had a completely distinctive style of dress, the main elements of which were ankle length tartan trousers and tartan scarves. A popular playground chant of the time went (to the tune of "This Old Man"):

B-A-Y, B-A-Y,
B-A-Y, C-I-T-Y,
With an R-O-double-L, E-R-S,
Bay City Rollers are the best!

World Impact: 1976

As the group's popularity swelled to superstardom in the UK, a concerted effort was made by Arista Records (the record company that evolved from Bell) to launch the Rollers in America. New Arista head Clive Davis was instrumental in grooming and overseeing the project. His work paid off as in early '76, the Rollers reached #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 with "Saturday Night", the song which had missed the UK chart completely two years earlier. A second US hit came with "Money Honey" which hit #9.

The dark side of the band's unending schedule of tours and appearances was the great amount of stress the band members felt. By early '76, the strain of success had taken its toll on bassist Al Longmuir, who decided to leave the group. He was replaced by Ian Mitchell. With Mitchell, the group released an album titled Dedication, and hit the charts with a cover version of the Dusty Springfield song "I Only Want To Be With You", as well as "Yesterday's Hero" and "Dedication".

1977 and on

As the Rollers' popularity waned, the shuffling of personnel continued: Mitchell quit the band, replaced by Pat McGlynn. The group's commercial success began to decline towards the end of the 1970s. In 1977, they covered an unsuccessful 1973 single by the String Driven Thing, "It's A Game" to give them their final UK Top 20 hit (#16 in the spring), but "You Made Me Believe in Magic" could only make #34 in the summer, however it managed to just crack the top ten in the United States, but this would be their final major success there too. Summer of 1977 saw the group release the It's a Game album and world tour as a four-piece group - McKeown, Wood, Faulkner & Derek Longmuir.

In 1978, Al Longmuir reunited with the band for the recording of Strangers in the Wind. The release of this LP was timed to coincide with the debut of the Rollers' US television show "The Kroft Superstar Hour" later renamed "The Bay City Rollers Show" on the NBC network. The show was a poor match for the band. Their time in the teen-idol spotlight was slipping away and their music had matured and become more sophisticated compared to the bubblegum hits they had released in '75-'76. The show and album were each dismal failures.

Les McKeown hated doing the show feeling they were too mature to do a show aimed at such a young audience. He decided to leave to pursue a solo career. McKeown agreed to participate in a 1978 tour of Japan but left the group shortly thereafter. The Rollers' fired their manager Tam Paton in 1979. South African born Duncan Faure was hired to replace Les McKeown and the band shortened its name to The Rollers. Three albums were issued under this name, including Voxx (1980) and 1981's Ricochet, before the group disbanded.

During the 80s and 90s, there were various short-lived revivals featuring some of the original members, notably including a New Year's Eve 1999 concert. Interest was rekindled in Britain by television documentaries about the group and a television-advertised compilation of greatest hits, which entered the UK charts on release in 2004 at its #11 peak.

Currently, there are two touring versions using the group's name: Les McKeown's Legendary Bay City Rollers and Ian Mitchell's Bay City Rollers. Each group features only its titled member from the original Rollers heyday.

UK Discography

Who Got All the Money?

A recent Channel 4 documentary, Who Got The Rollers' Millions?, explored the speculation about what happened to the supposed financial fortune the group generated in their career, with accusations that it was defrauded from the group by their management and record company. There are claims that the group sold 100-300 million records and generated the equivalent of five thousand million pounds in revenue, with the band members themselves earning very little. . According to BBC they sold 70 million records. However, even this figure has been disputed by several sources, not least their former record company.[1].

In March 2007, six former members of the group (the classic five plus Duncan Faure) announced a lawsuit against Arista Records in hopes of claiming what they describe as "tens of millions of dollars" of unpaid royalties. Nobby Clark has threatened to sue the other band members if their lawsuit is successful, stating that he was the creative force behind the bands success, despite the fact that he left the group in 1973 before the bulk of their fame and fortune began.[2] [3]

References

  1. http://www.lesmckeown.com/biog.htm
  2. http://icteesside.icnetwork.co.uk/0400business/0008bj/comment/tm_objectid=14337477&method=full&siteid=50080&headline=don-t-be-rollered-read-small-print-name_page.html]
  3. http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1063532003
Other sources

External links


 v • d • e Bay City Rollers discography
Albums: Rollin' | Once Upon a Star | Bay City Rollers | Wouldn't You Like It? | Rock N'Roll Love Letter | Dedication | It's a Game | Strangers in the Wind
as The Rollers: Elevator | Voxx | Ricochet