Bay City Rollers - Biography | Billboard Bay City Rollers 1967 Members: Stuart "Woody" Wood Pat McGlynn Leslie McKeown Eric Faulkner Duncan Faure Alan Longmuir Derek Longmuir Ian Mitchell The Bay City Rollers were a Scottish pop/rock band of the '70s with a strong following among teenage girls. The origins of the group go back to the formation of the duo the Longmuir Brothers in the late '60s, consisting of drummer Derek Longmuir (b. March 19, 1952, Edinburgh, Scotland) and his bass-playing brother Alan (b. June 20, 1953, Edinburgh). They eventually changed their name to the Saxons, adding singer Nobby Clarke and John Devine. Then they changed their name again by pointing at random to a spot on a map of the United States: Bay City, Michigan. Their first hit was a cover of the Gentrys' "Keep on Dancing," which reached number nine in the U.K. in September 1971. In June 1972, guitarist Eric Faulkner (b.

October 21, 1954, Edinburgh) joined. In January 1973, singer Leslie McKeown (b. November 12, 1955, Edinburgh) and guitarist Stuart Wood (b. February 25, 1957, Edinburgh) replaced Clarke and Devine, stabilizing the quintet's lineup. After flopping with three singles, they finally hit the Top Ten again in February 1974 with "Remember." At this point, the Rollers became a teen sensation in Great Britain, with their good looks and tartan knickers, and they scored a series of Top Ten U.K. hits over the next two and a half years: "Shang-a-Lang," "Summerlove Sensation," "All of Me Loves All of You," "Bye Bye Baby" (a cover of Four Seasons hit that went to number one), "Give a Little Love" (another number one), "Money Honey," "Love Me Like I Love You," and "I Only Want to Be with You" (a cover of the Dusty Springfield hit).

Their albums Rollin', Once Upon a Star, Wouldn't You Like It, and Dedication were also Top Ten successes, with Rollin' and Once Upon a Star getting to number one. They scored their first U.S. hit with "Saturday Night," which was released in September 1975 and hit number one in January 1976. It was followed by the Top Ten hits "Money Honey" and "You Made Me Believe in Magic." The Rollers also had five straight gold albums in the U.S.: Bay City Rollers, Rock 'n' Roll Love Letter, Dedication, It's a Game, and Greatest Hits. Alan Longmuir left the band in June 1976 and was replaced by Ian Mitchell (b. August 22, 1958, Downpatrick, County Down, Northern Ireland), who was in turn replaced by Pat McGlynn (b. March 31, 1958, Edinburgh) in June 1977. Longmuir returned in 1978, the same year that McKeown was replaced by Duncan Faure and Faulkner quit to go solo.

But by then the Bay City Rollers had scored their last hits. ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi Related Artists Bay City Rollers - Music on Google Play Bay City Rollers About the artist The Bay City Rollers are a Scottish pop band whose popularity was highest in the mid 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, 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 John Wood, singer Les McKeown, bassist Alan Longmuir, and drummer Derek Longmuir. On 22 September 2015 The Bay City Rollers, including McKeown, Stuart “Woody” Wood and Alan Longmuir announced that they were reforming and would play a show at the Glasgow Barrowlands on December 20.

1 $9.49 Strangers in the Wind is a 1978 rock album by the Bay City Rollers. It was the group's sixth original studio album, and second consecutive disc to feature the production work of Harry Maslin, who p... 1 1 $9.49 Dedication is an album by the Bay City Rollers, issued in September 1976. It was the band's fourth original studio album, and the first new album to be released in the wake of their enormous worldw... 1 1 $9.49 Wouldn't You Like It? was the third studio album to be released by the Scottish pop group, Bay City Rollers. The LP, issued in the UK in late 1975, saw a marked change in the group's musical direct... 1 1 $9.49 Once Upon a Star is the second studio album by the Bay City Rollers. Released in May 1975, the album features the UK number-one hit single, "Bye Bye Baby" and marked the first time the group perfor...

1 1 $9.49 Rollin', released in 1974, was the first full-length album by Scotland's Bay City Rollers. The album included three British chart hits and the debut of "Saturday Night", never a British hit yet a N... 1 1 $9.49 Rollin', released in 1974, was the first full-length album by Scotland's Bay City Rollers. The album included three British chart hits and the debut of "Saturday Night", never a British hit yet a N... 1 Leo Sayer is a British-born singer-songwriter musician, and entertainer whose singing career has spanned four decades. Sayer launched his career in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s, and became... 0 The New Seekers 0 The New Seekers are a British-based pop group, formed in 1969 by Keith Potger after the break-up of his group, the Seekers. The idea was that the New Seekers would appeal to the same market as the ... 0 Pilot 0 Pilot were a Scottish rock band, formed during 1973 in Edinburgh by David Paton and Billy Lyall.

They are best known for their 1974 hit songs "Magic" and "January". 0 Showaddywaddy 0 Showaddywaddy are a pop rock group from Leicester, England. They specialise in revivals of hit songs from the 1950s and early 1960s as well as original material and dress as Teddy Boys. 0 Cliff Richard 0 Sir Cliff Richard OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor and philanthropist. Richard has sold more than 250 million records worldwide. He has total sales of over 21 million singles... 0 The Glitter Band 0 The Glitter Band are a glam rock band from England, who initially worked as Gary Glitter's backing band under that name from 1973, when they then began releasing records of their own. They were uno... 0 Gilbert O'Sullivan 0 Gilbert O'Sullivan is an Irish singer-songwriter, best known for his early 1970s hits "Alone Again", "Clair", and "Get Down". The music magazine Record Mirror voted him the top UK male singer of 19...

0 Brotherhood of Man 0 Brotherhood of Man are a British pop group who achieved success in the 1970s. They won the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest with "Save Your Kisses for Me". Created in 1969 by songwriter and record prod... 0 David Soul 0 David Soul is an American-British actor and singer. He is known for his role as Detective Kenneth "Hutch" Hutchinson in the ABC television series Starsky & Hutch from 1975 to 1979. He became a Brit... 0 Mud 0 Mud are an English glam rock band, formed in February 1966. Their earlier success came in a pop and then glam rock style, while later hits were influenced by 1950s rock and roll, and are best remem... 0 Marmalade 0 Marmalade is a Scottish pop rock group from the east end of Glasgow, originally formed in 1961 as the Gaylords, and then later billed as Dean Ford and the Gaylords. In 1966 they changed the group n...

0 The Searchers 0 The Searchers are an English beat group, which emerged as part of the 1960s Merseybeat scene along with the Beatles, the Hollies, the Fourmost, the Merseybeats, the Swinging Blue Jeans, and Gerry a... 0 Gerry & The Pacemakers 0 Gerry and the Pacemakers were an English beat group prominent in the 1960s Merseybeat scene. In common with the Beatles, they came from Liverpool, were managed by Brian Epstein, and were recorded b... 0 David Cassidy 0 David Bruce Cassidy is an American actor, singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is widely known for his role as Keith Partridge, the son of Shirley Partridge, in the 1970s musical-sitcom The Partrid... 0 Bay City Rollers reuniting, plan to tour - CNN.com Bay City Rollers reuniting, plan to tour By Todd Leopold , CNN Updated 11:30 AM ET, Thu September 24, 2015 Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what's happening in the world as it unfolds.

The Bay City Rollers in 1976: from left, Eric Faulkner, Alan Longmuir, Les McKeown, Derek Longmuir and Stuart "Woody" Wood. Story highlights The Bay City Rollers are reuniting for an end-of-year concert, possible tour In the '70s, hysteria for the group was named "Rollermania" (CNN) Calling out across the land -- Rollermania is back! Well, at least the Bay City Rollers are. The mid-'70s British band, which inspired tartan-clad "Rollermania" in the UK ( along with two Nick Lowe songs ), announced Tuesday in Glasgow, Scotland, that they'll be returning to the stage. "You think we're doing it for money, but we're doing it for the glory of Scotland and the glory of the tartan," singer Les McKeown said, according to Billboard . The group is scheduled to play a December 20 show at Glasgow's Barrowland Ballroom, with more expected. At one point in 1975-76, the Rollers were the biggest thing going in Great Britain.

In May 1975, the band was besieged at a BBC-sponsored event in which fans, pursuing their idols to an island in the middle of some concert grounds, actually tried to swim across to them. Read More "If I live to be 200 years old, I am never going to experience anything like this again in my life," famed British DJ John Peel recalled . In the UK, the band -- usually decked out in plaid -- had 10 Top Ten hits, including two No. 1s. They weren't quite as successful in the U.S. but still managed three Top Ten hits, including the No. 1 song "Saturday Night." Though McKeown played down the financial side, the band does have an interest in making a few bucks. In 2007, six members filed a lawsuit against Arista Records, claiming that the label failed to pay millions of dollars in royalties. As of 2013, the case was still in the works . Three members of the original group are getting together, with a fourth, Eric Faulkner, interested, according to McKeown. Drummer Derek Longmuir, now a cardiology nurse, isn't interested in taking part.

It may have been 40 years since the band's heyday, but guitarist Stuart "Woody" Wood was still proud of the Rollers' teen-idol days. "We were bigger than One Direction. They haven't had a mania," he said at a news conference . "It's been a long process, and I'm just glad that we're all sitting here, and we'll just have to see where it goes, but we're mega-excited with the gig coming up at the Barrowlands. "Be there," he added, "and bring your tartan." Bay City Rollers | Biography & History | AllMusic google+ Artist Biography by William Ruhlmann The Bay City Rollers were a Scottish pop/rock band of the '70s with a strong following among teenage girls. The origins of the group go back to the formation of the duo the Longmuir Brothers in the late '60s, consisting of drummer Derek Longmuir (b. March 19, 1952, Edinburgh, Scotland) and his bass-playing brother Alan (b. June 20, 1953, Edinburgh).

They eventually changed their name to the Saxons, adding singer Nobby Clarke and John Devine . Then they changed their name again by pointing at random to a spot on a map of the United States: Bay City, Michigan. Their first hit was a cover of the Gentrys ' "Keep on Dancing," which reached number nine in the U.K. in September 1971. In June 1972, guitarist Eric Faulkner (b. October 21, 1954, Edinburgh) joined. In January 1973, singer Leslie McKeown (b. November 12, 1955, Edinburgh) and guitarist Stuart Wood (b. February 25, 1957, Edinburgh) replaced Clarke and Devine , stabilizing the quintet's lineup. After flopping with three singles, they finally hit the Top Ten again in February 1974 with "Remember." At this point, the Rollers became a teen sensation in Great Britain, with their good looks and tartan knickers, and they scored a series of Top Ten U.K.

hits over the next two and a half years: "Shang-a-Lang," "Summerlove Sensation," "All of Me Loves All of You," "Bye Bye Baby" (a cover of Four Seasons hit that went to number one), "Give a Little Love" (another number one), "Money Honey," "Love Me Like I Love You," and "I Only Want to Be with You" (a cover of the Dusty Springfield hit). Their albums Rollin' , Once Upon a Star , Wouldn't You Like It , and Dedication were also Top Ten successes, with Rollin' and Once Upon a Star getting to number one. They scored their first U.S. hit with "Saturday Night," which was released in September 1975 and hit number one in January 1976. It was followed by the Top Ten hits "Money Honey" and "You Made Me Believe in Magic." The Rollers also had five straight gold albums in the U.S.: Bay City Rollers , Rock 'n' Roll Love Letter , Dedication , It's a Game , and Greatest Hits . Alan Longmuir left the band in June 1976 and was replaced by Ian Mitchell (b.

August 22, 1958, Downpatrick, County Down, Northern Ireland), who was in turn replaced by Pat McGlynn (b. March 31, 1958, Edinburgh) in June 1977. Longmuir returned in 1978, the same year that McKeown was replaced by Duncan Faure and Faulkner quit to go solo. But by then the Bay City Rollers had scored their last hits. Bay City Rollers: The boy band that turned the world tartan - BBC News BBC News Bay City Rollers: The boy band that turned the world tartan By Steven Brocklehurst BBC Scotland news website 13 September 2015 Read more about sharing. Close share panel Image caption The classic Bay City Rollers line-up was Derek Longmuir, Eric Faulkner, Alan Longmuir, Les McKeown and Stuart Wood Forty years ago this week, the Bay City Rollers were the biggest pop band in the UK and were about to the hit the United States, as the Scottish teen sensations rolled on towards turning the whole world tartan. "They were adorable. Five cute guys at once.

That's the story of rock n roll," says US journalist Danny Fields. "The invention of boy bands became an industry thanks to the Bay City Rollers." As the editor of 16, an influential American teen magazine, Fields was part of a press junket to Scotland in the summer of 1975 to witness the phenomenon that was driving teenage girls in the UK wild. Fields says watching the scenes on the streets of Glasgow was like witnessing the triumphant return of conquering heroes in an epic movie. "It was like Ben Hur except it was all these girls wearing ugly pants," he told the BBC Scotland documentary Rollermania: The Biggest boy band in the world. Image copyright STV Productions Music publicist Carol Strauss Klenfner, who organised the press trip, says: "It was just crazy, 12-year-olds and 14-year-olds all dressed up in Roller garb, with that look in their eye, of love. It was young love personified. "They were so young and so fresh-faced. They were these wonderful Scottish fair complexions with rosy cheeks.

They were wild-eyed and they could sure scream loud." Fields and Strauss Klenfner were witnessing the high-point of Rollermania in the UK, with number one singles, sell-outs tours, the band's own TV show and thousands of hysterical tartan-clad teenage fans screaming at them wherever they went. But getting to that point had not been easy. It had been nine years since two Edinburgh brothers - Alan and Derek Longmuir - had formed a band with their school mates. The Saxons decided they wanted a more American-sounding name and stuck a pin in a map of the US, landing in Bay City, Michigan. Personnel changes and the arrival of local pop promoter Tam Paton as their manager drove the band on as they gathered a loyal following around Edinburgh. By 1971, Paton had landed the Rollers a deal with Bell records and they had a hit single, "Keep on Dancing", which crept up the charts to number nine. False dawn Alan Longmuir says: "It was brilliant. We were just young guys.

I was a plumber to-trade, my brother was a joiner, Nobby, the singer, was a joiner." But it was a false dawn and their next two singles failed to make the charts. Paton made changes to the line-up and to the band's look but by the end of 1972 the Rollers were starting to look like a one-hit wonder. Bell Records brought in hit-makers Phil Coulter and Bill Martin, who had written Britain's first Eurovision Song Contest winner, Puppet on a String, for Sandy Shaw in 1967. Martin, who was from Govan, says: "I was always looking for a Scottish band and I thought they were quite special. Quite different from any other pop group." Coulter was impressed by the band's "unshakeable" belief they would be superstars but he says the reality was they could hardly tune their own guitars. He insisted session musicians were used to lay down the tracks in the studio because it would take too long to get the right sound from the band. As they worked on the new sound, there were more changes in the band's line-up with Les McKeown brought in to replace Nobby Clark as the lead singer.

Another new face was 16-year-old Stuart Wood. He says: "I was gobsmacked. I'd only been playing guitar just over a year and probably knew about five or six chords." Image caption The band's membership started to change as the strain of their success showed With the classic line-up in place, and Bill and Phil on board, the hits began to come. Remember (Sha La La La) got to number six in early 1974 but it was Shang-a-Lang that kick-started Rollermania. Producer Bill Martin says: "It was phenomenal. It just took off like a rocket." Stuart Wood says: "From not having anyone screaming to having thousands of people screaming at you was pretty quick." "The noise was colossal," says Martin. "They were a sensation." According to Coulter the big difference was the age of the girls buying the records and screaming at the band. They were not 16 or 17 but instead were much younger. "This was whole new thing," he says.

"That was the gap in the market." Image copyright STV Productions Image caption Les McKeown says the police would stop concerts because they could not control the crowd At the end of 1974, their debut album - Rolling - was at number one but the Rollers were not happy. Coulter says the band wanted to be more hands-on, writing their songs and playing on their own tracks. He refused and the band demanded a new producer. Phil Wainman was given the task of keeping the hits coming but the Rollers had to play and sing on the records. "That was quite a task," he says. But it was one he was equal to and in early 1975 Bye Bye Baby went to number one and stayed there for six weeks. Image copyright STV productions Image caption Derek Longmuir says the band were ripped off and made very little money Wainman says: "It was selling 75,000 a day. You can have a hit these days with just 20,000 records." The next single "Give a little love" also went to number one and Rollermania took over the country. The band even had their own TV show.

At the height of the mania the Rollers undertook their biggest UK tour to-date. "That was a crazy tour," says McKeown. "We would go on and the police would make us stop because they just could not control the crowd." Image copyright STV Productions Image caption Founder member Alan Longmuir left the band at the height of their success The strain of constant touring was compounded when, on a rare visit home to Edinburgh, McKeown ran over and killed a 76-year-old woman. He says: "I can remember just being in complete shock. I don't know how long it took me to come out of that shock. "In retrospect I should have dealt with the issue in a much more comprehensive way." The day after the accident McKeown rejoined the tour. Stage invasion The Rollers management had no time to give McKeown a chance to deal with the incident, they were already planning the next stage of their global domination by breaking them in America. Music mogul Clive Davis of Arista Records picked "Saturday Night" as their first single in the US, a Bill and Phil production that had failed to chart in the UK in 1973.

On 20 September 1975, the Rollers performed at London Weekend Television and were beamed by satellite into the homes of 30 million unsuspecting Americans. Their performance ended with a stage invasion that left Woody and Les in hospital. Image copyright STV productions Image caption Stuart Wood joined the band as a 16-year-old in 1974 Ten days later the Rollers were on their way to America. Details of their flight arrival were leaked to fans so they got a rapturous reception as they touched down. Phil Wainman says: "I went out there and witnessed this unbelievable happening at JFK. "It was like the Beatles all over again. In fact it might have been bigger." By January 1976, Saturday Night had climbed to the top of the US Billboard chart. According to Bill Martin it sold 12 million records. Despite success around the world, the cracks were showing and founder member Alan Longmuir quit the band in April 1976. He says: "I was getting depressed. I just couldn't take it any more." New members came and went and the hits started to slow.

Ripped off The band sold 120 million records and conquered the UK, US, Australia and Japan but music journalist Caroline Sullivan says that by late 1977 they had declined in popularity quite a bit. "There is obviously a sell-by date for all boy bands and the Rollers were reaching theirs. "They had a really good run. The fans were growing up and The Rollers themselves were obviously completely fed up with it." The band finally imploded when McKeown left in 1978 and bitter battles over the money they should have been paid dragged on for years. Derek Longmuir says: "We were definitely ripped off but there was a big element of naivety as well. "People would come along and tell you, 'you guys just concentrate on the music and we'll do the business stuff' and you just accepted that." Bill Martin says: "I have no qualms about saying about Tam Paton that he was a disgrace.

He deserved to die a broken man because those wee boys should have had everything." The Roller coaster - Music - Entertainment - smh.com.au The Roller coaster Printer format Tartan sensation: (from left) Eric Faulkner, Stuart "Woody" Wood, Alan Longmuir, Les McKeown and Derek Longmuir. Depression, drug abuse, child porn, fights over royalties - Simon Hattenstone discovers what became of the boys who were once the superstars of the Bay City Rollers. When the Bay City Rollers were big, they were the biggest. For two years, everything they touched turned to gold, then platinum. There was a national Rollers uniform - up and down the land, kids wore tartan culottes, scarves dangling from the wrist and Dr Martens boots. The band sold 120 million records, generating income worth $12 billion in today's money and conquering Britain, the United States, Australia, Japan - everywhere. They were the world's biggest band since the Beatles. When the Rollers failed, they failed like nobody else. Suddenly, no one wanted to know. By 1976, the Rollers were twee and trite, yesterday's teen icons.

Horror story piled up on horror story: apocalyptic fallings-out, a fatal car crash, drug and alcohol addiction, heart attacks, strokes, poverty, child-porn convictions and suicide attempts. The story of the Bay City Rollers became an awful cautionary tale of fame and its fallout. Few have fallen more spectacularly than Les McKeown. He was the Scottish band's second lead singer, hired after Nobby Clarke quit in 1973. Before McKeown, the band looked destined to be a one-hit wonder, with Keep On Dancing. But by 1974 Rollermania was in full flow. McKeown, aged 18, was the biggest heart-throb in a band stuffed with boy-next-door heart-throbs, a magnet for millions of screaming teenage girls. It's hard to track down McKeown and his fellow Rollers these days. Not because they live in splendid isolation on their country retreats - they don't. It's because they don't want to talk about their Roller days. The memories are still too bitter and, a quarter of a century on, too fresh.

At the same time, it becomes apparent that Rollerdom is ever-present in their middle-aged lives - not least because they are still fighting for the royalties they are owed. I speak to former agents and bookers. None can lead me to the Rollers. They have heard all the stories over the years, and recount how Alan Longmuir has had a heart attack and how Derek Longmuir has been convicted for downloading child pornography, how Eric Faulkner has disappeared, how Stuart "Woody" Wood has made a new start for himself and how McKeown is apparently in a very bad way. One former agent tells me he has heard McKeown has passed away. But a contact of a contact of a contact leads, eventually, to the former frontman. He agrees to an interview so long as he can mention the missing money. He is still handsome, though a little pasty the day we meet. He is wearing black jeans, black T-shirt and shades, his hair is largely black with streaks of silver and his teeth are flecked with black.

We talk about the old days - how he was offered the job of lead singer in the Rollers; how he could have anything he wanted: women, hotel rooms, alcohol, drugs. Anything, that is, except for his own space and time. I ask McKeown, now 49, when he was happiest. He ums and ahs, but doesn't mention the Rollers. Yes, he tells stories about groupies and international travel and selling out venues, but there is a weariness to his voice. It is the downside that comes readily to mind: the rows, the exhaustion, the exploitation by manager Tam Paton. Having to jump out of the back window of his house and into a waiting van to get away from fans, never sleeping, not having Christmas off, the band being given speed to keep them going. What about the adulation, the luxury, the lovely house he could buy for himself and his parents, the car he treated himself to when he was 19 - a turbo-charged Ford Mustang 351? In a way, this car tells the story of McKeown and the Rollers perfectly.

The Mustang 351 represented everything he had aspired to, the dream realised, and the subsequent nightmare. In 1975, he was driving in Edinburgh when he hit 76-year-old Euphemia Clunie and killed her. It's still clear in his head. He describes the road's four lanes, how she had crossed the first two lanes, and there was no traffic coming on that side of the road, and how she just continued walking till the car hit her. McKeown has always insisted he was driving at 40 mph (64kmh), but witnesses claimed the true speed was 70 mph and he was charged with causing death by dangerous driving. Another witness came forward, though, and McKeown was found guilty of the lesser charge of driving recklessly, fined and banned for a year. He says it still upsets him that he has never gone to make peace with the family and tell them that he was neither drinking nor speeding. McKeown was never the same again. The band continued to dominate the charts for another few months, but by 1977 punk was on its angry march and the Rollers were no-hopers in the UK.

In 1978, they left for Los Angeles to try to reinvent themselves, but McKeown was more interested in taking cocaine with his rock 'n' roll heroes, such as Led Zeppelin's John Bonham and the Who's Keith Moon, than playing with the Rollers. It didn't last long - Moon died that year, Bonham was dead by 1980, both drummers barely into their 30s, legendary rock casualties. It was in 1978 that McKeown told fellow Rollers he wasn't happy with their plan to make an American TV series for little kids and they should all leave the band. They wrote back saying, "F--- you, you're fired." In the end, he left by mutual agreement. By the age of 22, he was a has-been. "It was horrible. I was f---ed, basically." He orders another glass of white wine. "I was looking after my mum and dad in a hotel in Edinburgh because the house had been repossessed. It was really ... I can't tell you ..." Because he was thrown out of the band before they split up, he was the only one to have his house repossessed.

Tam Paton is probably the key to understanding the Rollers. While it is indisputable Paton made the Rollers, McKeown would argue he was also largely responsible for destroying them. He compares the band's relationship with Paton to that of a child with an abusive parent. Last year, Paton, now a property dealer, suffered a stroke after being cleared of child sex-abuse allegations and being fined $475,0000 for supplying cannabis. He was sacked by the Rollers in 1978. In 2003, former guitarist Pat McGlynn accused him of trying to rape him in 1975. Paton dismissed it as a cynical attempt to whip up publicity for McKeown's autobiography, Shang-A-Lang, which was just about to be published. In a separate case, Paton was given a three-year jail sentence in 1982 for gross indecency against two teenage boys. Paton has always claimed he was unfairly convicted. "All I am guilty of is being gay and enjoying the company of young people. I have been made an outcast and have been living like a recluse," he said in 2003.

Today, McKeown has still not seen his Rollers royalties. In 1978, it was estimated that he was owed $4.3 million. The most recent estimates suggest the band as a whole are owed up to $118 million. Often, McKeown walks into record shops and comes across new compilations featuring Rollers hits. Between 1996 and 1998 Bay City Rollers hits were released on 118 albums worldwide. So what happened to the money? The answer is complex, messy and uncertain. At various times, band members have accused Paton of making off with the cash. But Paton says he signed a dodgy record deal and was as much a victim as the musicians were. Certainly, accountants, lawyers and acolytes have taken more than their fair share. But, bizarrely, most of the money appears to be held in trust for the band by the record company Sony-BMG, which bought out Arista in 1976. Sony-BMG says it has been unable to pay royalties because there is no copy of the initial contract and the band have been feuding so long that they are unable to agree who is owed what.

"The company continues to work in good faith with representatives of the Bay City Rollers to resolve this matter," a spokesperson says. McKeown passes on my request for an interview with other band members he is in touch with and a few weeks later Alan Longmuir emails me. Longmuir, the band's bassist, is in his mid-50s. He and his drummer brother, Derek, started the Rollers in Edinburgh in 1967. He was still working as a plumber when they cracked the charts in 1971. What he loved about the early days was that the Rollers were a hobby. "You'd finish work and then go and rehearse and look forward to playing live all over Scotland." Through the years, the line-up continued to change. Longmuir reckons there were 27 members in all. Before long, he says, the band became a prisoner of their own success. When he looks back on those years, all he thinks of is hotel rooms and running away from fans to have a drink in peace. Longmuir brings me up to date with members of the band he keeps in touch with.

"Woody is producing a lot of Scottish stuff and Derek is still doing his nursing thing - he went to the Open University and got a BA." As for himself, after some health problems, he is back working as a plumber. "I had a slight heart attack and a slight stroke. Just stress and worry and everything." "Big stroke," his wife mutters in the background. Longmuir laughs. "Aye, big stroke. I lost the power of my left side. I got the fright of my life. It's OK now. I still get twitches, but I'm all right." He speaks to so many people who assume he must be living the life of Riley, a former Roller running around in a Roller, and they are amazed when he puts them right. "I don't feel bitter because I'm quite happy. I've got a lot of friends." Sometimes he misses the music and he'd like to go back into a studio but really, he says, he's too old for that now. A more realistic goal is to get the money they're due. Another few weeks pass before I receive an email from Derek, Longmuir's younger brother.

Derek, who is now 50, has had an eventful and troubled post-Rollers life. In 2000, he was convicted of downloading child pornography from the internet and sentenced to 300 hours community service. He was subsequently sacked from his job at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, where he worked as a psychiatric nurse, but in October 2001 was allowed to resume his nursing career. There is much I want to ask him, not least the influence of Paton on his subsequent life. But Derek isn't interested in being interviewed. Woody, who played guitar in the band, has written several successful "Celtic mood" albums in recent years. He doesn't even want to answer email questions. Nobody knows where Eric is. After McKeown left, the Bay City Rollers officially changed their name to the Rollers and struggled on for another few years. Meanwhile, McKeown called his new band Leslie McKeown's Ego Trip (it was one, as they were very much his backing band) and his first post-Rollers album, All Washed Up, topped the charts in Japan. He was the only one to have a sniff of a successful solo career.

For the first time McKeown found himself with money in his pocket. But he overspent and once again he found himself broke and unwanted. What difference would the outstanding royalties have made to McKeown's life? He stops and this time imagines all the good things he could have done with the money. "If I close my eyes, I can imagine a beautiful, two-storey white cottage with a thatched roof and a little river running by, just what anybody would imagine ..." Today, McKeown lives in a flat in Hackney, east London, with his Japanese wife, Peko, and their 20-year-old son, Richard. He is the Roller most ready to talk about the toll that fame and its aftermath have taken. "The bit I don't like is that it's brought a darkness that sometimes I can't get rid of." Is it there often? "Yeah." He looks away. "It's definitely some sort of depression. It's kind of relentless." McKeown says matter-of-factly that he had a bit of therapy when he was suicidal. When Paton eventually gets in touch, he apologises for not returning my calls until now. He says he's not been the same since his stroke and two heart attacks.

His voice is strong, though, and he's lost none of his old belligerence. He talks about the early days managing the Rollers - the good old days. All along, he says, he knew he was flogging an image and little else. "They were five young inaccessible men, untouchables. I tried to form a total mystery about the band in the same way Elvis Presley and the Beatles were put together. You could hear them but, by God, you couldn't get near them. The difference, of course, was that Elvis and the Beatles had great talent." Paton says it was his dream to be a star and when he realised it was unlikely he settled for second best - becoming a famous svengali. I tell him what McKeown has said. He laughs at the suggestion that he introduced him to drugs and says if McKeown really believes he robbed the band, he should take him to court. All the accusations have destroyed his health, he says, not least the allegation of attempted rape. "The police investigated Pat McGlynn's claim and found it was rubbish." What Paton does admit to is financial naivety.

If he had been wiser, he would have driven a harder and better deal with the record company. If he had his time over, would he manage the Rollers again? "I wouldn't even go near them with a bargepole if they were all standing with their knickers round their ankles. I wouldn't even think about it. Honest to God. It was nothing to do with sex. I didn't even fancy any of them." As for the money, he says, most of the band had plenty by the time they quit, but they didn't know how to look after it. He has little sympathy for them. "I think they should get their heads out of their arseholes and start growing up. Look what it's done to them; they have become bitter and twisted old men." And what about him? He sighs. "I would say I've become slightly bitter and twisted." Through most of the 1990s, there were two Bay City Rollers bands. They were rarely active and more like tribute bands to their original selves. Even here, there was a bitter dispute over the right for McKeown, the latecomer, to call his band the Rollers.

It cost the original members $495,000 in legal fees to ensure his Rollers would be called Les McKeown's Legendary Bay City Rollers, so that they were not confused with the original Rollers; now only McKeown's version survives. Occasionally, however, the Rollers have risen above their differences. The most famous line-up, the fab five, last reunited for a millennium concert on New Year's Eve 1999. Now, the band have come together again, this time not to perform, but to mount a sustained campaign to get the royalties they are owed. They are meeting regularly in Scotland. Even guitarist Eric Faulkner has re-emerged, though where he disappeared to and where he now lives remain something of a mystery. McKeown is preparing for a Rollers tour, alongside the Osmonds and David Cassidy as part of a 1970s nostalgiafest, that will take in venues as grand as Wembley Arena. I ask if any other one of the fab five will be joining him. "No, it's just me," he says, "the only one who matters." At times he can't help himself.

When he leads Les McKeown's Legendary Bay City Rollers, he improvises and reinterprets some of the old jingly-jangly tunes with samples and big Japanese drums. "I do a really good ballad of Bye Bye Baby. I'm fed up with all that happy shit because I always thought those words were very sad." But what gives him his biggest kick, he says, is playing in his new band, where he is just a guitarist who does a bit of singing. I ask him what the band is called. "Damaged," he says. The Guardian The Bay City Rollers History Tam Paton become BCR's manager. Mike Ellison retired from the group. 1969 Keith Norman joined the group. Dave Pettigrew, Greg Ellison and Keith Norman retired from the BCR. Dave Paton and Billy Lyall joined the group . 1970 Eric Manclark joind BCR (a six man group now). This group contacted Dick Leahy, who was President of Bell Records. October Dave Paton retired. Neil Henderson joined the Rollers. The Rollers made a contract with Bell records. 1971 Billy Lyall retired. Archie Marr joined the group.

September 18 The first single 'Keep on dancing' entered the UK charts . It finaly reached number 9. November 'We can make music' was released in England. Neil Henderson and Archie Marr retired. Eric Faulkner and John Devine joined the group. September 22 'Manana' was released in England. October 19 With 'Manana' the Rollers won the 4th Radio Luxemburg Grand Prix International at the Nouveau Theatre in Luxemburg. November 27 'Manana' is the first single in the german charts. The highest position was number 9. 1973 'Saturday night' was released in England. November Nobby Clark retired. Leslie McKeown joined. November 28 'Remember' was released in England. 1974 John Devine retired. Stuart Wood joined the Rollers. January 9 First appearance on TV in the english Show 'Lift off' February 9 Remember entered the UK charts. Highest position was #6. April 1 'Shang-A-Lang' was released in England. April 27 'Shang-A-Lang' entered the UK charts. Highest position was #2.

July 27 'Summerlove Sensation' entered the UK charts. Highest position was #3. October 12 The first album ' Rollin' ' entered the UK charts. It reached #1 and stayed at the charts for 62 weeks ! (It was released on september 6th) October 12 'All of me loves all of you' entered the UK charts. Highest position was #4. October 18 UK-Tour begins (till november 17th) December 19 First concert in germany (Hamburger Musikhalle) 1975 First issue of the official Bay City Rollers Magazine. March 8 'Bye Bye Baby' entered the UK charts. The Rollers first number 1 ! April 1 The TV-Show 'Shang-A-Lang' starts.(20 shows) April 11 Second album ' Once upon a star was released in the UK. April 27 Second UK-Tour begins (till june 9th) April 30 First appearance on TV in germany (Musikladen) May 3 'Once upon a star' entered the UK charts. It reaches #1 and stayed on the charts for 37 weeks.

May 3 US-Manager Sid Bernstein takes BCR under contract. July 12 'Give a little love' entered the UK charts. The BCRs second number 1. September 15 'Saturday night' released in the USA. September 20 Performance on Howard Cosell Show(TV) in USA(Or was it october 4th ?) September 30 BCR landing on the New York Kennedy Airport. Promotional activities in the US for one week. October 'It's a game' entered the UK charts. Highest position was #16. May 9 Begin of US-Tour (till june 1st) July 8th Pat's first single 'She'd rather be with me' was released in germany. July 9 Alan Longmuir released 'I'm confessing' in germany. July 25 Begin of 3rd US-Tour. July 30 'You made me belive in magic' entered the UK charts. Highest position was #34. This was the last Rollers single in the UK charts. August 13 The album ' It's a game ' entered the UK charts. Highest position was #16.

This was the last Rollers album in the UK charts. August 24 Visit of the town Bay City. September 17 The Rollers second album is released in Germany and Japan. It is titeled ' Voxx '. 1981 Early in the year, US and UK music magazines report, that the Rollers change their label to CBS. Summer The Rollers release their first CBS album, ' Ricochet '. At the same time they release two singles from that album, 'Life on the radio' and 'No doubt about it' only in UK. Fall 1982 May Eric Faulkner and Leslie McKeown, who had been singing solo, met at a concert and discussed reforming the group. They finaly reformed the Bay City Rollers together with Stuart Wood, Derek Longmuir and Alan Longmuir. August They released the album ' Breakout' in Japan.George Spencer on drums. July 13 They come to Japan for the 6th time. Concert at Hihiyayagai Daiongokudo in Tokyo. The concert was titled 'Back to the Rollers, 1985'. Derek didn't come to Japan.

July/August The Bay City Rollers tour Australia (Eric, Ian, Pat, Les, Woody and George Spencer) This tour ends with Eric leaving the others to finish the tour without him. ( Information provided by Lisa Theiss ) 'When you find out' was released in Japan. Fall Eric Faulkner and Alan Longmuir separated from the group. 1986 April 26 They returned to Japan the 7th time, performing at Hibiyayagai Daiongokuda. It was a special concert because it was their 10th anniversary of coming to Japan. Members were: Leslie, Woody, Ian, Pat and a drummer. 1987 Eric Faulkner formed a new band with his girlfriend Kass(backing vocals), Chris Ellen(bass), Kevin Peach(Keyboards) and Barry Roberts(drums). The name of the band is ' The New Rollers ' The New Rollers released a tape called ' Bay City Take 2 ' (Fan Club only) 1988 The New Rollers released their first 7" single called 'Party Harty' in England.

On that single you can hear the new members Mark Roberts(drums), Simon Stuart(guitar) and Andy Boaks(bass). May 9 Les McKeowns solo single 'She's a lady' entered the german charts. The single stayed 16 weeks at the charts ! For the first time the Bay City Rollers songs are available on CD. The Compilation was released in germany and the titel is 'Starke Zeiten'. It was released on The ARISTA/BMG Label and contained 16 songs. October US-Tour of the New Bay City Rollers (till december) December 12 Les McKeowns solo single 'Love is just a breath away' entered the german charts. 1989 The New Rollers released a tape called ' Life is a wasteland ' (Fan Club only). This tape was recorded during the christmas period of 1988 and contains 10 new songswritten by Eric and Kass. The New Rollers changed their name to 'The Rollers'. Andy Boakes left the group and was replaced by Karl Murphy(bass). Jason Medvec(guitar) also joind the group. April 21 The compilation CD 'Memorial' was released in Japan.

April 24 Les McKeowns solo single 'It's a game' entered the german charts. June 17 The Rollers did a concert in the Meadow Bank Stadium in Edinburgh(1500 people). July 24 Les McKeowns solo single 'Love hurts and love heals' entered the german charts. August Stuart 'Woody' Wood joined the Rollers. Now that two original members are in the band they changed the bands name to 'Bay City Rollers'. September 9 The Bay City Rollers did a one month tour through australia. 1990 Billy Lyall dies of aids Febuary Alan Longmuir joined the Bay City Rollers. The Band said goodbye to Andy Boakes and Mark Roberts. The linup is now: Eric Faulkner, Stuart Wood, Kass & Alan Longmuir. March Les McKeown is one of the finalists for 'Song For Europe'. He performed the song 'Ball & Chain' at a BBC TV-Show. He came fourth out of eight. March 21 An 8 CD-Box Set was released in Japan. It contains all the albums from Rollin' to Voxx.

August 17 First Bay City Rollers concert in germany since the late 70s. Phil Watts is the drummer in Bielefeld in front of an audience of 4000 people. 1991 April The Bay City Rollers released a tape with 6 live songs called ' M62 ' (Fan Club only) Mai 18 The Bay City Rollers concert in Bad Segeberg(Germany) was filmed for TV and was shown on SAT1 in germany on june 15th. August 26 A show at the 'Concet Bowl' in Chelmsford,Essex in front of aprox. 18000 people ! The CD ' Bye Bye Baby ' was released in europe. It contains 7 rerecorded 70s hits and 6 new songs written by Eric, Stuart and Kass. November 17 The Bay City Rollers filmed the video for the single 'Flower of Scotland' at a south London studio. November 22 The Bay City Rollers released the double A-side single 'Flower of Scotland/Bye Bye Baby' Andy Boakes has rejoined the Rollers.

Andy playes bass and Alan switches to accoustic guitar and keyboards. 1992 Febuary 1 Les McKeown does a concert under the name of 'Bay City Rollers' in Duisburg(Germany). Ian Mitchell was also in the lineup ! Febuary Phil Watts left the Bay City Rollers. Mark Roberts(drums) rejoined the band. Febuary 7 The rollers performed unplugged in the kitchen of Adrian Seviour during a Surprise Show 'The Word' on Channel 4/UK. The Bay City Rollers released a CD/Cassette called ' Greatest Hits ' with rerecordings of 11 70s hits. March 18 'Showcase' at the Camden Underworld in London. March 31 Les McKeown did an Oldie Express Tour through german till april 19th. He sung live with a playback/without a band. The Bay City Rollers took legal actions against their former lead singer Les McKeown.

They reached an agreement under that Les McKeown is permitted to use the name 'Bay City Rollers' only in conjunction with certain references to his historical connection with the band(such as "ex", "70s", "former") June The Bay City Rollers did a Scandinavian tour. Andy Boakes left the Rollers. Woody will play bass in the future. Simon Stewart rejoines the band. November There was a statement in the November Newsletter of the Bay City Rollers, that Derek Longmuir(former drummer) and Tam Paton(former manager) fully support the band(Eric,Stuart,Alan & Kass). The band use some other musicians Mark Roberts(drums) and Simon Stewart(drums) . 1993 The Bay City Rollers are on tour in USA/Canada. September The Bay City Rollers are on tour in Japan . Les McKeown's 70's Bay City Rollers released a CD in europe called ' Greatest Hits '. 11 rerecorded songs from the 70's plus a Megamix. November 19 Les McKeown's 70's Bay City Rollers released a CD in japan called ' Loveletter '.

7 rerecorded songs from the 70s, 2 karaoke versions and 3 new songs. December Les McKeown's 70's Bay City Rollers did a japan tour followed by an east german tour. 1994 March ' The Collection ' is available via the Les McKeown's 70's Bay City Rollers-Fan Club. This is a double CD with songs from Les four solo albums. March The Bay City Rollers did a german tour. 1995 BBC News - Bay City Rollers: The boy band that turned the world tartan Bay City Rollers: The boy band that turned the world tartan By Steven Brocklehurst BBC Scotland news website The classic Bay City Rollers line-up was Derek Longmuir, Eric Faulkner, Alan Longmuir, Les McKeown and Stuart Wood Forty years ago this week, the Bay City Rollers were the biggest pop band in the UK and were about to the hit the United States, as the Scottish teen sensations rolled on towards turning the whole world tartan. "They were adorable. Five cute guys at once. That's the story of rock n roll," says US journalist Danny Fields.

"The invention of boy bands became an industry thanks to the Bay City Rollers." As the editor of 16, an influential American teen magazine, Fields was part of a press junket to Scotland in the summer of 1975 to witness the phenomenon that was driving teenage girls in the UK wild. Fields says watching the scenes on the streets of Glasgow was like witnessing the triumphant return of conquering heroes in an epic movie. "It was like Ben Hur except it was all these girls wearing ugly pants," he told the BBC Scotland documentary Rollermania: The Biggest boy band in the world. Music publicist Carol Strauss Klenfner, who organised the press trip, says: "It was just crazy, 12-year-olds and 14-year-olds all dressed up in Roller garb, with that look in their eye, of love. It was young love personified. "They were so young and so fresh-faced. They were these wonderful Scottish fair complexions with rosy cheeks.

They were wild-eyed and they could sure scream loud." Fields and Strauss Klenfner were witnessing the high-point of Rollermania in the UK, with number one singles, sell-outs tours, the band's own TV show and thousands of hysterical tartan-clad teenage fans screaming at them wherever they went. But getting to that point had not been easy. It had been nine years since two Edinburgh brothers - Alan and Derek Longmuir - had formed a band with their school mates. The Saxons decided they wanted a more American-sounding name and stuck a pin in a map of the US, landing in Bay City, Michigan. Personnel changes and the arrival of local pop promoter Tam Paton as their manager drove the band on as they gathered a loyal following around Edinburgh. By 1971, Paton had landed the Rollers a deal with Bell records and they had a hit single, "Keep on Dancing", which crept up the charts to number nine. False dawn Alan Longmuir says: "It was brilliant. We were just young guys.

I was a plumber to-trade, my brother was a joiner, Nobby, the singer, was a joiner." But it was a false dawn and their next two singles failed to make the charts. Paton made changes to the line-up and to the band's look but by the end of 1972 the Rollers were starting to look like a one-hit wonder. Bell Records brought in hit-makers Phil Coulter and Bill Martin, who had written Britain's first Eurovision Song Contest winner, Puppet on a String, for Sandy Shaw in 1967. Martin, who was from Govan, says: "I was always looking for a Scottish band and I thought they were quite special. Quite different from any other pop group." Coulter was impressed by the band's "unshakeable" belief they would be superstars but he says the reality was they could hardly tune their own guitars. He insisted session musicians were used to lay down the tracks in the studio because it would take too long to get the right sound from the band. As they worked on the new sound, there were more changes in the band's line-up with Les McKeown brought in to replace Nobby Clark as the lead singer.

Another new face was 16-year-old Stuart Wood. He says: "I was gobsmacked. I'd only been playing guitar just over a year and probably knew about five or six chords." The band's membership started to change as the strain of their success showed With the classic line-up in place, and Bill and Phil on board, the hits began to come. Remember (Sha La La La) got to number six in early 1974 but it was Shang-a-Lang that kick-started Rollermania. Producer Bill Martin says: "It was phenomenal. It just took off like a rocket." Stuart Wood says: "From not having anyone screaming to having thousands of people screaming at you was pretty quick." "The noise was colossal," says Martin. "They were a sensation." According to Coulter the big difference was the age of the girls buying the records and screaming at the band. They were not 16 or 17 but instead were much younger. "This was whole new thing," he says.

"That was the gap in the market." Les McKeown says the police would stop concerts because they could not control the crowd At the end of 1974, their debut album - Rolling - was at number one but the Rollers were not happy. Coulter says the band wanted to be more hands-on, writing their songs and playing on their own tracks. He refused and the band demanded a new producer. Phil Wainman was given the task of keeping the hits coming but the Rollers had to play and sing on the records. "That was quite a task," he says. But it was one he was equal to and in early 1975 Bye Bye Baby went to number one and stayed there for six weeks. Derek Longmuir says the band were ripped off and made very little money Wainman says: "It was selling 75,000 a day. You can have a hit these days with just 20,000 records." The next single "Give a little love" also went to number one and Rollermania took over the country. The band even had their own TV show. At the height of the mania the Rollers undertook their biggest UK tour to-date.

"That was a crazy tour," says McKeown. "We would go on and the police would make us stop because they just could not control the crowd." Founder member Alan Longmuir left the band at the height of their success The strain of constant touring was compounded when, on a rare visit home to Edinburgh, McKeown ran over and killed a 76-year-old woman. He says: "I can remember just being in complete shock. I don't know how long it took me to come out of that shock. "In retrospect I should have dealt with the issue in a much more comprehensive way." The day after the accident McKeown rejoined the tour. Stage invasion The Rollers management had no time to give McKeown a chance to deal with the incident, they were already planning the next stage of their global domination by breaking them in America. Music mogul Clive Davis of Arista Records picked "Saturday Night" as their first single in the US, a Bill and Phil production that had failed to chart in the UK in 1973. On 20 September 1975, the Rollers performed at London Weekend Television and were beamed by satellite into the homes of 30 million unsuspecting Americans.

Their performance ended with a stage invasion that left Woody and Les in hospital. Stuart Wood joined the band as a 16-year-old in 1974 Ten days later the Rollers were on their way to America. Details of their flight arrival were leaked to fans so they got a rapturous reception as they touched down. Phil Wainman says: "I went out there and witnessed this unbelievable happening at JFK. "It was like the Beatles all over again. In fact it might have been bigger." By January 1976, Saturday Night had climbed to the top of the US Billboard chart. According to Bill Martin it sold 12 million records. Despite success around the world, the cracks were showing and founder member Alan Longmuir quit the band in April 1976. He says: "I was getting depressed. I just couldn't take it any more." New members came and went and the hits started to slow. Ripped off The band sold 120 million records and conquered the UK, US, Australia and Japan but music journalist Caroline Sullivan says that by late 1977 they had declined in popularity quite a bit.

"There is obviously a sell-by date for all boy bands and the Rollers were reaching theirs. "They had a really good run. The fans were growing up and The Rollers themselves were obviously completely fed up with it." The band finally imploded when McKeown left in 1978 and bitter battles over the money they should have been paid dragged on for years. Derek Longmuir says: "We were definitely ripped off but there was a big element of naivety as well. "People would come along and tell you, 'you guys just concentrate on the music and we'll do the business stuff' and you just accepted that." Bill Martin says: "I have no qualms about saying about Tam Paton that he was a disgrace.

He deserved to die a broken man because those wee boys should have had everything." Rocked by Rollermania: Boyband obsessions of 40 years ago | Weird | News | Daily Express 02:49, Sat, May 3, 2014 Derek Longmuir, Les McKeown, Eric Faulkner, Alan Longmuir, and Stuart Wood in 1975 [ALAMY] Yet a decade after their 1960s' peak, an equally hysterical teenage phenomenon gripped Britain. It was called Rollermania. The members of the group concerned were so adored that they were forced to turn up at concerts in an armoured car. They sold an estimated 120 million records and generated revenues in excess of £5billion in today's money. But while former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney is a national treasure and the band's only other surviving member Ringo Starr divides his time between homes in Surrey, Los Angeles and Monte Carlo with his wife, the former actress and model Barbara Bach, the original members of the Bay City Rollers are largely forgotten and lead lives that could scarcely contain less celebrity glamour.

The lead singer is touring with a tribute band, the bassist is a plumber, the rhythm guitarist has moved into Celtic music, the other guitarist is a songwriter and the drummer is a psychiatric nurse following a brief career hiatus caused by a conviction for downloading child pornography. The story of how these teenyboppers from Edinburgh went from being the world's biggest pop act for 12 months - starting in the summer of 1974 - to leading their current lives, possesses all the most salutary aspects of the ultimate cautionary tale. All naive young boybands need a svengali, so let's start with him. The Beatles had the very canny Brian Epstein, Elvis Presley the crafty Colonel Tom Parker, and One Direction Simon Cowell. The Rollers had a dodgy truck driver called Tam Paton. That's not to say he wasn't shrewd. Paton knew that teen idols only retained their lustre in the eyes of their (mostly female) fans if they were perceived as squeaky clean and unburdened by girlfriends. He portrayed his charges as the boys next-door and trotted out the line that they drank milk not alcohol. You couldn't walk the street.

There were 100 girls outside my house every day Alan Longmuir He also played on their Scottish heritage, kitting them out in calf-length trousers edged in tartan, Doc Martens and tartan scarves. In 1974 Paton was 35 and it helped that his proteges were young and impressionable. Eric Faulkner had joined the band as a 21-year-old guitarist in 1972, Les McKeown, who became the lead singer in 1973, was 18, while rhythm guitarist Stuart "Woody" Wood was just 16. Founding members and brothers Alan and Derek Longmuir, the bassist and drummer, were 25 and 23. By the time Paton began managing the band they had chosen their name by the straightforward - if random - process of throwing a dart at a map of the United States. It landed "near" the town of Bay City, Michigan.

The Bay City Rollers had had their first hit in 1971, a cover version of a song called Keep On Dancing, but the song that introduced them to the big time was Remember (Sha La La La) in 1974. It reached No 6 in the charts and after that success their popularity exploded. Their next three releases all entered the top five: Shang-a-Lang went to No 2, Summerlove Sensation reached No 3 and All Of Me Loves All Of You peaked at No 4. By early 1975 Rollermania had arrived. The band were given their own TV series called Shang-a-Lang. Recollecting this time three decades later, Alan Longmuir said: "You couldn't walk the street. There were 100 girls outside my house every day. You never had your own time. In 1974 I had one day off and that was to go to a wedding." It was to take more than the odd glass of milk to help the band members cope with this level of overnight fame. And Paton knew just what was required, according to McKeown.

"When we got a wee bit tired he'd give us amphetamines," he once recalled. TOURING: Les McKeown looks much different these days [REX] "He'd keep us awake with speed, black bombers, and then it becomes a little culture, doesn't it? You end up almost showing off to each other [about] what stupid drugs you've taken." A little substance abuse was not enough to derail the Rollers' juggernaut. In March 1975 the band had their first No 1 with Bye Bye Baby, which sold one million copies and stayed in the top spot in the charts for six weeks. At the height of this success, McKeown made the fateful decision to buy a turbo-charged Mustang 351, which had a V8 engine that gave it an estimated top speed of 195mph. While taking it for a spin through Edinburgh on May 29, 1975, the 19-year-old singer was involved in an accident. "I was driving at about 40mph and this woman was standing at the side of the road obviously undecided about whether or not to cross," he said later.

"I blipped my horn and it seemed that she had seen me and was going to wait. Then she suddenly stepped out in to the road. I swerved to avoid her but I had no chance. I was sideways on when I hit her and then crashed through a brick wall." McKeown and the other occu-pants of the car - a girlfriend and his brother - were unharmed but the pedestrian, 76-year-old Euphemia Clunie, lay dead on the road. He was charged with causing death by dangerous driving and a court date was set for November. Meanwhile, Paton insisted the show must go on and within 24 hours McKeown was back on stage playing to a packed crowd in Oxford. He later recalled: "She only lived across the road from me and I wanted to knock on her family's door and say, 'I'm really, really sorry' but I wasn't allowed to do that. I wasn't allowed to go to her funeral." When his case came to court he was found guilty of the lesser charge of driving recklessly after the intervention of a new witness. He was also fined £150 and banned for a year.

But in one sense at least it turned out to be a life sentence. "I won't say that I think about it every night but there's elements of what happened then that have something to do with head trips today," he explained. Despite McKeown's travails, the band's success continued. Give A Little Love followed Bye Bye Baby to No 1 and Paton was forging ahead with plans for his boys to storm the lucrative US market. Hyped as the band that were "bigger than The Beatles", the Rollers landed at New York's John F Kennedy Airport on September 30, 1975, and following a whirlwind publicity tour released a single called Saturday Night. By the end of December, it had become their first (and only) US No 1. But their popularity waned as quickly as it emerged. By 1977 punk rock was all the rage. McKeown quit for an ill-starred solo career a year later and Paton was fired shortly afterwards. Related articles Two brothers from Surrey made tartan a symbol of Scotland The Rollers stumbled on with a range of line-ups for a decade or so but never had another hit. Paton had a chequered retirement.

He was convicted of gross indecency with teenage boys in 1982 and served one year of a three-year sentence. In 2004 he was convicted of supplying cannabis but cleared on appeal. Three years later he was cleared of the attempted rape of one of the Rollers' guitarists Pat McGlynn in a hotel room in 1977. When he died in 2009 he left an estate of £2.7million. Yet the musicians he managed are relative paupers and a group of six of them are still squabbling over the "tens of millions" in royalties they reckon they were denied by record label Arista. Anyone keen on a trip down memory lane can always buy a ticket to see Les McKeown's Legendary Bay City Rollers - the name arrived at after a £200,000 legal battle with his former bandmates - at the Phones4U Arena in Manchester. The indefatigable McKeown kicks off an eight-date British tour there on June 20. Most read in Weird

Question: Eric Faukner; Derek Longmuir and Les McKeown were members of which 70's pop group?
Answer: Bay City Rollers