The Rollers were the subject of a 20-week UK television series, Shang-a-Lang.They have been called the tartan teen sensations from Edinburgh, and the first of many acts heralded as the biggest group since the Beatles.
The line-up in 2018 included guitarist Wood, singer Ian Thomson, bassist Marcus Cordock, and drummer Jamie McGrory. The group never performed publicly under this name, 7 just a family wedding where they covered Wake Up Little Susie. They changed their name to the Saxons, and Derek invited a friend from school, Gordon Nobby Clark, to be the lead singer. Porteous moved from acoustic to electric guitar, and Alan Longmuir followed suit by changing to electric bass. The Saxons played occasional dance hall concerts while the band members completed their schooling or worked during the day (Alan apprenticed as a plumber). Porteous left the band in July 1965, with new guitarist Dave Pettigrew filling the spot after answering an advertisement placed by the band in an Edinburgh newspaper. Pettigrew was more advanced musically than the others, and pushed the band to improve. Their repertoire included American RBpop songs such as Please Mr. Postman and Heat Wave. ![]() Gregorys older brother Mike joined as a second lead singer, allowing more complex harmonies, especially useful for the Motown songs they liked to perform. The band convinced Tam Paton, a former big band leader 9 and influential local band and club manager, to audition them at the Longmuirs house. Paton booked them for a Thursday night at his club, the Palais, then assigned them to open for the Hipple People at Top Storey. They played a couple of contemporary Kinks numbers but favoured American songs, including a new one: C.C. Rider by Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels. Desiring a better name for the band, they settled on Rollers, but needed a more powerful American-sounding term in front of that. Derek Longmuir threw a dart at a map of the United States, landing first on Arkansas. This did not meet anyones approval, so a second dart was thrown. The band agreed on the name, the Bay City Rollers. Short-term members from this period included bassist David Paton (from 1969 to 1970) and keyboardist Billy Lyall (196971), who went on to be founding members of another Edinburgh band, Pilot. This period saw the addition of long-term member guitarist Eric Faulkner. In mid-1973, they narrowly missed the UK Singles Chart with their fourth single, Saturday Night. A couple of months later, in early 1974, what became known as the classic line-up 10 was completed; guitarist John Devine was replaced by Stuart Woody Wood. By early 1975, the band was well on the way to achieving global success. The classic five lineup consisted of: Alan Longmuir, Derek Longmuir, Stuart Woody Wood, Eric Faulkner and Les McKeown. Following in succession were Shang-a-Lang (UK No. Summerlove Sensation (UK No. All of Me Loves All of You (UK No. The successful 75 UK tour, which prompted newspaper headlines about the rise of Rollermania 11 (a take-off on Beatlemania a decade before).
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