IN 1974 the world was to witness a new musical phenomenon the likes of which had not been seen since the days of Elvis.
The music of the Bay City Rollers became the soundtrack for a generation of teenagers growing up in the mid 70s. The face and voice of that soundtrack belonged to Les McKeown.
The teenage band were transformed into an international supergroup notching up nine UK top ten hits including two number ones.
Their first two albums, Rollin’ and Once Upon A Star, stayed in the album charts for a total of 99 weeks from 1974 to 1976 and Bye Bye Baby, the Rollers’ first number one single, was the UK’s biggest selling single of 1975.
In the latter part of 1975 the band made their American television debut on Howard Cosell’s Saturday Night Live and within a year they were consistently hitting the US top ten with songs such as Saturday Night (their first US number one), I Only Want To Be With You and Rock and Roll Love Letter.
Between 1974 and 1978 the Bay City Rollers reached number one in the pop charts not only in Britain and America but all over mainland Europe, Japan and Australia. Next month, Les comes to Lighthouse in Poole with The Bay City Rollers Story, a celebration of those hectic days of hit songs. The show is on September 13 at 7.45pm. Call 0844 406 8666 for details.
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