Bay City Rollers

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Bay City Rollers
Bay City Rollers' "classic line-up", circa 1975 (L-R): Alan Longmuir, Les McKeown, Stuart ("Woody") Wood, Derek Longmuir, Eric Faulkner
Background information
Origin	Scotland
Genre(s)	Pop Rock Bubblegum pop
Years active	1969–1981
Label(s)	Bell Records Arista Records Epic Records
Former members
Nobby Clark John Devine Eric Faulkner Duncan Faure Alan Longmuir Derek Longmuir Billy Lyall Archie Marr 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.

[edit] History

[edit] Early Days: Formation-1973

Bassist Alan Longmuir and his younger brother Derek, a drummer, 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 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 Bell Records, their 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. The Rollers' lead singer at this time was Nobby Clark, who is 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 song "Mañana", which was later popular in parts of Europe and in Israel.

The Bay City Rollers released several non-charting singles over the following two years. In late 1973 they narrowly missed the UK chart with "Saturday Night." This and many subsequent singles were written and produced by the highly successful songwriting duo of Scotsman Bill Martin and Irishman Phil Coulter.

[edit] British Breakthrough: 1974-75

At the end of 1973, Nobby Clark had become disillusioned by the band's lack of success and decided to move on. His replacement was Leslie McKeown, who hastily re-recorded lead vocals onto the group's forthcoming single, "Remember (Sha La La La)".

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!

[edit] World Domination: 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" (from the self-titled US debut album), the song which had missed the UK chart completely two years earlier. A second US hit came with "Money Honey" (appearing on the follow-up US album Rock 'n Roll Love Letter) which hit #9 (earlier it had gone to #3 in the UK).

The strain of success had taken its toll on bassist Alan Longmuir, who was replaced for 1976's Dedication by Ian Mitchell. The group also hit the charts that year with a cover version of the Dusty Springfield song "I Only Want To Be With You", as well as "Yesterday's Hero" and "Dedication".

[edit] The Rapid Decline: 1977 and on

The group's commercial fortunes declined towards the end of the 1970s. An unsuccessful 1973 single by the String Driven Thing, "It's A Game", was covered by the Bay City Rollers in 1977 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. Summer of '77 saw the group release the It's a Game album and tour the world as a four-piece group.

In 1978, Alan 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 kiddie television show on the NBC network. The show was a poor match for the 1978 edition of the band, however: their time in the teen-idol spotlight had long since past, and their music was decidedly mature and sophisticated compared to the bubblegum hits of '75-'76. The show and album were each dismal failures.

McKeown participated in a 1978 tour of Japan but left the group for a solo career shortly thereafter. Paton was fired in 1979, as the band added lead singer Duncan Faure and shortened their 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.

[edit] Line-ups

The line-up with which the group is most associated is the late 1973-early 1976 assemblage:

• Eric Faulkner - (lead guitar)
• Alan Longmuir - (bass)
• Derek Longmuir - (drums)
• Les McKeown - (lead vocals)
• Stuart Wood - (rhythm guitar)

McKeown had replaced Gordon "Nobby" Clark (heard on "Keep On Dancing"). Alan Longmuir was replaced briefly by Irish American guitarist Ian Mitchell, who in turn was replaced by guitarist Pat McGlynn. Longmuir re-joined the band in 1978. McKeown was replaced in 1979 by Duncan Faure, a South African singer.

[edit] Unpaid Royalties

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.[1] [2] [3]. According to BBC they sold 70 million records. However, even this figure has been disputed by several sources, not least their former record company.[4].

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.[5]

[edit] References

Stambler, Irwin. Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock & Soul. 1974. St. Martin's Press, Inc. ISBN:312-25025-8

Coy, Wayne. Bay City Babylon (The Unbelievable But True Story Of The Bay City Rollers). 2005. Hats Off Books ISBN:158-73646-38

[edit] External links

• Bay City Rollers discography page
• BAY CITY ROLLERS Great collection of band photography!
• Bay City Rollers sound clips on iTunes Music Store
• Bay City Rollers video clips