Les McKeown collage (photo credit Russell Keefe)
By Russell Keefe
In 1988 I got a call from my pal Terry Munday. He and I had been in bands for years around London. He phoned me to say he had a new gig, “who with?” I asked, “The Bay City Rollers” he replied. If I said I didn’t laugh out loud it would be a lie. The Rollers were not a favourite amongst most young men in the UK. After all, they weren’t Alice Cooper.
Terry went on to do more shows with Les and about a year later he called me to say they needed a keyboard player to play on a TV show in Germany. When he said it was paid I of course said yes. I met Les and off we went to Potsdam.
Les was great, nice bloke, very funny and a good guy to be around. We got on famously and when he asked me if I would like to join the band I didn’t hesitate.
I went on to play with Les for 22 years. We got to tour the world and meet not only other great bands but many thousands of fans. The fans loved Leslie and Ian (Mitchell) and got to know the rest of us over time.
We had many memorable moments. One such time was in the USA. I don’t remember where but it was a small venue in a small town. The hadn’t advertised the gig thinking that people would just come anyway because it was the Rollers. Consequently they had only sold two tickets and said they could only pay us in beer and food. We had a chat and decided we would do the gig anyway, so we did. We put all our stage clobber on and played a full set to those two fans. It was great fun. You forget a lot of big places you play but these small gigs are the ones you remember most.
Over time band members came and went but I always stayed (until of course I didn’t). It was great fun, the songs had become cool and I was very protective over him, the band and the songs. Leslie wasn’t always the easiest person to work with but that’s just the way of a family and that’s exactly what we were.
I hope this collection of photographs will give you an insight into my life on the road with Les McKeown’s Legendary Bay City Rollers.
Further information
Lesmac Me and the Legendaries, features rare backstage and touring photographs along with personal anecdotes from more than two decades touring and recording with Les. It includes stories and photographs featuring artists such as Les, Suzi Quatro, Ian Mitchell, David Cassidy and many more, alongside behind-the-scenes moments from life on the road.
The book is available worldwide via print-on-demand exclusively from https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/rollersbook
