Friday July 26th 1974

The Bay City Rollers were a Scottish pop/rock band of the 1970s. Their youthful, clean-cut image, distinctive 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 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-1973

Bassist Alan 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.
Short term members from this period include David Paton (member 1969-1970) and Billy Lyall (member 1969-1971), who went on to be founding members of another successful Edinburgh band, Pilot.

By the end of 1973, Nobby Clark had become disillusioned by the band's lack of success and decided to move on.
He was replaced as lead singer by Leslie McKeown.

British breakthrough: 1974–75

The five members at the very 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 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 early 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.
Two full-length LPs were produced during this period: Once Upon a Star and Wouldn't You Like It?.
Each featured the full band playing on all studio sessions, which had not been the case on earlier recordings.
In addition, Faulkner and Wood were tasked with the vast majority of the songwriting duties.

The above article sourced from http://www.en.wikipedia.org/

Keep on Dancing
Released 18th September 1971
Reached No.9 13wks in charts

Remember (Sha-La-La)
Released 9th Febuary 1974
Reached No.6 12wks in charts

Shang-A-Lang
Released 27th April 1974
Reached No.2 10wks in charts

Summerlove Sensation
Released 27th July 1974
Reached No.2 10wks in charts

All of Me Loves All of You
Released 12th October 1974
Reached No.4 10wks in charts

Bye, Bye, Baby
Released 8th March 1975
Reached No.1 16wks in charts

Give a Little Love
Released 12th July 1975
Reached No.1 9wks in charts

Money Honey
Released 22nd November 1975
Reached No.3 9wks in charts

Love Me Like I Love You
Released 10th April 1976
Reached No.4 10wks in charts

I Only Wanna Be With You
Released 11th September 1976
Reached No.4 9wks in charts

It's a Game
Released 7th May 1977
Reached No.16 6wks in charts

You Made Me Believe in Magic
Released 30th July 1977
Reached No.34 3wks in charts

25.08.2009. 07:30

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