'Cause I'm a rock and roller
I'm gonna rock it, gonna roll all over
I'm gonna shake it to the midnight stroller,
And rock the night away...
With Les McKeown at the helm, so sang the Bay City Rollers in 1976.
Although Les was never really a rocker, he most certainly was a Roller, through and through.
It was his identity, his role, and his fate. A fate he tried to escape only twice; for the first time in the late '70s, after his initial departure from the band, and for the second time a decade later, after - yep - another exit from the group. Nether times it took.
He joined a struggling Rollers in early 1974, just as their (second) breakthrough single, Remember, hit the UK charts. The rest, as they never tire of saying, is history. By the year's end, after three more Top 5 hits and a Number 1 album, the Rollers were the biggest band in the land.
Consequently, the world succumbed to Rollermania, as the phenomenon got called. Europe, the US, Japan and Australia - apparently no one was immune to the beast. Either loved or loathed, a string of light and breezy pop hits such as Shang-A-Lang, Bye Bye Baby, Give A Little Love, Saturday Night and I Only Wanna Be with You ruled the airwaves for a couple of years there during the mid '70s.
By 1978, though, the jig was up. Amidst clashing egos, not to mention a drastic change in the musical landscape, the Rollers were unable to keep up and Les unceremoniously left the band.
He was self-deprecating enough to name his first solo backing band Egotrip, and his first solo album All Washed Up. Still, apart from Rollers stronghold Japan, success wasn't forthcoming.
A handful of Japan-only solo albums followed before the first Bay City Rollers reunion beckoned in 1982. Again, and not for the last time, Japan appeared to be the only welcoming venue for the venture.
After that enterprise had finally fizzled out Les went solo again by teaming up with Europop maestro Dieter Bohlen (of Modern Talking) for a string of bouncy, dance-oriented singles which all charted in Bohlen's native Germany, as well as a lone album.
By the early '90s Les was once again donning the tartan as he went out with a band variously tagged (for legal reasons) as Les McKeown's '70s Bay City Rollers or, later, Les McKeown's Legendary Bay City Rollers - with him as the only original Roller.
And, apart from an ill-fated 'real' Rollers reunion or two - most notably a much-publicized one that took place in 2015/2016 - that was what he traded in until his dying day, with a tour lined up later this year.
On Thursday April 20, 2021, the world received the news via a post on social media from his family, wife Peko and son Jubei, that Les McKeown had died, 'suddenly, at his home', two days prior, on Tuesday April 20. He was 65. No immediate cause of death was enclosed, but a few days later it was reported that the reason was most likely a heart attack.
Seemingly, although Les' life wasn't always easy - he famously battled both alcoholism and drug addiction - there was rarely a dull moment. His views on people and issues, although not always polite, popular and/or politically correct, he rarely kept to himself. His biography, Shang-A-Lang (Issued at least three times with various tag lines: 'Life as An International Pop Idol,' 'The Curse of The Bay City Rollers,' and 'My Life with The Bay City Rollers'), is a jolly good read where his joie de vivre personality is brought to the fore.
I met Les a few times, spoke to him many times, and corresponded with him some, way back in the fax age. He could be charming and funny, sometimes infuriating and difficult, i.e., by no means flawless, but above all human. I'll miss him. Rest in Peace, Rock and Roller.
