Wednesday, May 11, 2011

The Bay City Rollers

After the Bay City Rollers popularity declined, lead singer Les McKeown left the band in 1978. The band officially spilt up in late 1981, but throughout the 1980's and 1990's various members reunited and toured. Today, former members Ian Mitchell, Eric Faulkner and McKeown, each tour with their own bands, playing Bay City Rollers' hits. Legal issues over which performers may use the band name mean that there is currently no "Bay City Rollers". McKeown's group used the name: Les McKeown's Legendary Bay City Rollers.



  • Bass guitarist Alan Longmuir played the lead in the 1981 film Burning Rubber, an auto-racing melodrama filmed in South Africa. He has suffered from poor health, and he suffered a heart attack in 1995 and a stroke in 1997. He lives in Scotland with his wife Eileen.
  • Drummer Derek Longmuir retired from the music industry in the early 1980s and trained as a nurse working at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. In 2000, Longmuir was sentenced to 300 hours community service after admitting possessing child pornography.Due to the controversy, he was fired from his job at the Infirmary although he was later re-admitted to the nursing register. Despite his guilty plea, he maintained that the offending materials did not belong to him, but were left behind by an acquaintance. Longmuir claimed he pleaded guilty in hope of avoiding a "media circus".
  • Guitarist/Vocalist Eric Faulkner was lead singer of a reformed version of the Bay City Rollers in the 1990's, which for a time also featured his wife, singer Karen "Kass" Prosser. He also toured with his own band, The Eric Faulkner Co-operative that he founded with Prosser.
    Faulkner performed at Guilfest 2006 with 3 Men & Black, featuring Pauline Black from The Selecter. During the set he led a tribute to the late Syd Barrett and sang "See Emily Play", as well as "Radio Heaven", a recent song he penned, and a rendition of the Bay City Rollers hit "Shang-a-Lang". Faulkner continued to perform with 3 Men & Black as a support act on their 2006 concert tour.
    In 2007, Faulkner continued as a solo artist and appeared at the Glastonbury Festival as a protest singer in support of British politician Tony Benn. He also performs all the old favourite Roller tunes as Eric Faulkner's Bay City Rollers.
  • Rhythm/Bass guitarist Stuart John "Woody" Wood, lives with his wife Denise in Edinburgh. He is still active in the music industry, producing Celtic music. In 2007, Wood produced and released a DVD documentary of his life story, entitled Rollercoaster.
  • Lead singer Les McKeown pursued a career as a solo artist after he left the band in 1978. He released a series of solo albums which saw some success, primarily in Germany and Japan.
    McKeown's sang on the second album by gothic/dream pop band This Mortal Coil, Filigree & Shadow.
    He worked with Dieter Bohlen in 1988-89 and produced the album - It's A Game. In 1990 he participated in the UK heats of the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Ball and Chain", which placed fifth.
    McKeown now lives in Hackney, England with his Japanese wife, Peko, and their son, Richard. He still tours with his current band, "Les McKeown's Legendary Bay City Rollers" (he is the only former Roller in the band). He completed a UK tour of Once In A Lifetime with David Essex, Leo Sayer and The Osmonds and has, along with Alan Longmuir, appeared in the USA playing four dates as well as putting on a meet and greet fest for American fans.