Bay City Rollers

Bay City Rollers biography

The Bay City Rollers were a Scottish pop band who were most popular in the 1970s. The British Hit Singles & Albums noted that they were "tartan teen sensations from Edinburgh", and were "the first of many acts heralded as the 'Biggest Group since The Beatles' and one of the most screamed-at teeny-bopper acts of the 1970s". For a relatively brief but fervent period (nicknamed "Rollermania"), they were worldwide teen idols. The group's line-up featured numerous changes over the years, but the classic line-up during its heyday included guitarists Eric Faulkner and Stuart Wood, singer Les McKeown, bassist Alan Longmuir, and drummer Derek Longmuir.

History

Early days: formation-1973

Bassist Alan Longmuir, his younger brother Derek Longmuir, a drummer, along with schoolfriend, lead singer Gordon "Nobby" Clark founded the group in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1966, as The Saxons. Shortly afterwards, they chose a new name found at random by throwing a dart at a map of the United States. It landed near the community of Bay City, Michigan.

The Bay City Rollers were managed from early on by Tam Paton, himself a former big band leader. Short-term members from this period included David Paton (member 1969-1970) and Billy Lyall (member 1969-1971), who went on to be founding members of another successful Edinburgh band, Pilot.

After signing with Bell Records, the band's first hit was "Keep on Dancing" (UK #9, 1971), a cover of a 1965 hit by The Gentrys, recorded at the suggestion of record producer Jonathan King. Clark was backed on vocals on "Keep on Dancing" by King doing multi-tracked singing. Upon this release's success, they made appearances on BBC One's Top of the Pops. The group then won a Radio Luxembourg-sponsored song contest with the tune "Maí±ana", which was later popular in parts of Europe and in Israel.

Several non-charting singles were released over the following two years. This period saw the addition of long term members Eric Faulkner and Stuart "Woody" Wood. In mid-1973 they narrowly missed the UK Singles Chart with the fourth single, "Saturday Night", one of many songs written and produced for the band by the songwriting duo of Scotsman Bill Martin and Irishman Phil Coulter. By the end of 1973, Clark had become disillusioned by the band's lack of success and decided to leave. He was replaced as lead singer by Les McKeown.

British breakthrough:1974-75

The five members at the end of 1973 - the Longmuir brothers, Faulkner, Wood and McKeown - are generally referred to as the "classic line-up". In early 1974 McKeown hastily re-recorded lead vocals of the group's forthcoming single, "Remember (Sha La La La)", which became a sizable hit and a lead-in to a series of UK chart hits.

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

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