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The Bay City Rollers were a Scottish pop band whose popularity was highest 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.Early days: formation–1973In 1966, bassist Alan Longmuir, his younger brother, drummer Derek Longmuir, and their schoolfriend, lead singer Gordon "Nobby" Clark, founded The Saxons in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Soon after, they changed to The Bay City Rollers by throwing a dart at a map of the United States, landing "near" Bay City, Michigan.The Bay City Rollers' first manager was Tam Paton, himself a former big band leader.
Short-term members from this period included bassist David Paton (from 1969–1970) and keyboardist Billy Lyall (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 No. 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 "Mañana", 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 member guitarist Eric Faulkner.
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 with the band's musical direction and decided to leave just when his recording of Remember (Sha La La La) zoomed up the charts to No.6.He was replaced as lead singer by Les McKeown.
A couple of months later, in early 1974, what became known as the classic line-up was completed when guitarist John Devine was replaced by Stuart "Woody" Wood.British breakthrough: 1974–75In early 1974 McKeown hastily re-recorded lead vocals on "Remember (Sha La La La)", after it was a sizable hit in the U.K.
with Nobby Clark's lead vocals and a lead-in to a series of UK chart hits.Beginning with "Remember" (UK No. 6), the Rollers' popularity exploded, and they released a string of hits on the UK chart.
Following in succession were "Shang-a-Lang" (UK No. 2), "Summerlove Sensation" (UK No. 3), and "All of Me Loves All of You" (UK No. 4).By early 1975, they were one of the highest-selling acts in the UK.
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 No. 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 No. 1 hit.
Two full-length LPs were produced during this period: Once Upon a Star (1975) and Wouldn't You Like It? (1975).
Faulkner and Wood undertook the majority of the songwriting duties.At the peak of their popularity in the UK, comparisons were made to The Beatles.
Also by this time, Bay City Roller fans had a completely distinctive style of dress, the main elements of which were calf-length tartan trousers and tartan scarves.
A popular playground chant of the time went (to the tune of "This Old Man"):A shorter cheerleader-style chant, shouted rhythmically rather than sung, went:English singer-songwriter Nick Lowe wrote a "jaundiced" (in Lowe's words) paean entitled "Roller's Show", giving writing credit on the single to "The Tartan Horde" which was the name given to Rollers fans in England.
The song was included on the US release of Lowe's first album, "Pure Pop for Now People".World impact: 1976As 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 North America.
New Arista head Clive Davis was instrumental in grooming and overseeing the project.
His work paid off, as in late 1975, the Rollers reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 with "Saturday Night", the song that had missed the UK chart completely two years earlier.
Unfortunately for the band, Saturday Night was released with Nobby Clark's lead vocals.
The Rollers hastily re-recorded the song with Les Mckeown but it was already at No 1 in the Billboard Hot One Hundred.
The Rollers gave the track their American debut via a satellite-link performance on Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell.
In Canada, it fared equally well, hitting No. 1 on the RPM national singles chart on 10 January 1976.
The Bay City Rollers (1975) album (North American release only) hit No. 1 in the same chart on 7 February.A second North American hit came with "Money Honey", written by Faulkner which hit No. 9 in the US.
In Canada, it fared better, following its predecessor to the top and giving them their second No. 1 in the RPM national singles chart on 13 March 1976.The North America/Japan release album Rock n' Roll Love Letter (1976) jumped from No. 25 to the top position in a single week in Canada, deposing their own Bay City Rollers (1975) album at No. 1 on the national chart on 27 March 1976, but only managed to achieve the No. 31 spot on the U.S.
Billboard chart.They were also extremely popular in Australia.
One great example of their popularity was put into the book about Countdown - the Australian TV music show that ran from 1974-1987.
Their 1976 appearance on Countdown coincided with a total eclipse of the sun.
Director Ted Emery recallsBy early 1976, the strain of success (and the discomfort of being a man in his late 20s in a teen band) had taken its toll on bassist Alan Longmuir, who decided to leave the group.
He was replaced for seven months by 17-year-old Ian Mitchell – the first band member born outside Edinburgh, Scotland.
(He was from Northern Ireland.) With Mitchell, the group released an album titled Dedication (1976), and hit the charts with a cover version of the Dusty Springfield song "I Only Want to Be with You", which reached US No. 12, as well as "Yesterday's Hero" (featuring live material from a 1976 personal appearance in Toronto's Nathan Phillips Square), and "Dedication".1977–79As the Rollers' popularity waned, the shuffling of personnel continued; Mitchell quit the band.
He was replaced by guitarist Pat McGlynn, who joined the band with the forlorn wish that "I just hope I can cope." McGlynn lasted only a few months before quitting in turn, complaining that the other Rollers had treated him like a servant.
Further struggles around the band involved the direction of their sound, as the members wished to pursue more sophisticated styles.
They settled on David Bowie's producer, Harry Maslin, and in August 1977 released It's a Game as a four-piece group, comprising McKeown, Wood, Faulkner and Derek Longmuir.
The It's a Game tour produced the live album Rollerworld: Live at the Budokan 1977, recorded in 1977 at Japan's Budokan Hall, but unreleased until 2001.On the disc, they covered an unsuccessful 1973 single by String Driven Thing, "It's a Game" to give them their final UK Top 20 hit (#16 in May 1977), but "You Made Me Believe in Magic" could only make No. 34 in July.
Oddly enough, this single provided them their highest-charting German hit, reaching No. 4 in the same year.
"You Made Me Believe in Magic" reached No. 10 in the US, but this would be their final major success there too.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 Saturday morning television show The Krofft 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 1975–1976.
The show and album were both failures.New singer, new nameLead singer McKeown made the decision to leave for a solo career after a concert tour in Japan.At the end of 1978, the band had split with McKeown, then fired manager Tam Paton shortly after, and decided to continue in a more new-wave, rock-oriented sound.
Their name was now The Rollers.
South African-born Duncan Faure joined the band as new lead vocalist, guitarist and songwriter.
With Faure, the line-up produced three albums: Elevator (1979), Voxx (1980), and Ricochet (1981).
Following the expiry of the band's Arista contract neither of the releases sold as well and they stopped touring by late 1981.1980s and beyondDuring the 1980s and 1990s, there were a few short tours.
Seven past members played Japan in 1982, and again in 1983.
A reunion album, Breakout, was released in Japan and Australia in 1985, and added drummer George Spencer.
Breakout was written primarily by McKeown and McGlynn with minor contributions from Faulkner, Wood, and Mitchell.In the late 1980s a version of the band called the 'New Rollers' was formed featuring Faulkner on lead vocals, Kass (Karen Prosser) on vocals, Jason Medvec on guitar, Andy Boakes on bass, Mark Roberts on drums.
The band toured extensively throughout the US and Canada as well as tours of the UK and Australia.
This group also released an independent 5-song EP titled "Party Hardy".In 1990 Stuart Wood and Alan Longmuir joined with Faulkner to tour under the Bay City Rollers name, and issued several CDs of re-recordings of the old Roller tunes.The classic line-up were filmed for an episode of the VH1 – Behind the Music series in 1998.
Around the same time the same line-up played in Japan for a TV show.The classic line-up (minus Derek Longmuir) performed a one-off New Year's Eve millennium concert, the last official Bay City Rollers concert (1999–2000) in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle in Scotland.
Interest was rekindled in the UK by various television documentaries about the group, and a new television advertised compilation of greatest hits, Very Best of the Bay City Rollers, which entered the UK Albums Chart on release in 2004 at No. 11.Currently, Mitchell, Faulkner and McKeown each regularly tour playing Rollers hits.
Due to legal issues over which performers may use the band name, McKeown's group used the name: Les McKeown's Legendary Bay City Rollers.
At present there is no official Bay City Rollers.On 26 April 2008, fans in the greater Los Angeles area celebrated the first "Bay City Rollers Day".
A day celebrating all things "BCR" via music, games, and attempting to live the Bay City Roller lifestyle.
The tradition has continued and grown in popularity with each passing year.Financial disputesAccording to the BBC they sold 70 million records.In March 2007, six former members of the group (Faure plus the "classic line-up") 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 band's success, despite the fact that he left the group in 1973 before the bulk of their fame and fortune began.In September 2010, Gordon "Nobby" Clark, Ian Mitchell and Pat McGlynn filed a complaint in the courts in United States against the six members (Faure plus the "classic line-up") over their being excluded from the case against Arista records.
Clark, Mitchell and McGlynn were seeking to have their rights determined and are also seeking financial damages against the other Bay City Rollers for alleged breach of contract.
In 2013 a judge in the United States Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the three due to the statute of frauds, which establishes that certain agreements must be in writing under certain conditions, with the appellate judge ruling, "A claim for unjust enrichment must be based on the value of plaintiffs’ contribution to the joint effort of the band at the time it made the relevant records, not on the income stream resulting from a revival over thirty years later," In March 2011 a New York judge determined that the Bay City Rollers can move forward with their four-year old lawsuit against Arista Records.
Arista had denied responsibility for the majority of the royalties, claiming that the New York statute of limitations, which limits plaintiffs from recovering damages past six years in contract disputes, bars the Rollers' claims for royalties incurred prior to 2001.
However, since the Rollers were able to show that Arista had continued to promise them their royalties in writing, the judge ruled that the statute was not applicable.