Bay City Rollers Super Fans Unveil Memorial Benches In Edinburgh

Greg Macvean A woman with copper hair wearing sunglasses and wearing a black coat and patterned scarf she is holding an old photo of her husband, Les McKeown. She is sitting on a bench next to a man who wearing all black. Between them is a microphone with a hat placed on it — Les McKeown’s wife PekoKeiko Tsukioka and son Jubei McKeown attended the unveilling of a memorial bench

Memorial benches honouring two former members of the Bay City Rollers have been unveiled in Edinburgh.

Online fan group Still Rollin raised more than £12,000 for the tributes in the city’s Princes Street Gardens.

They recognise founding member Alan Longmuir, who died in 2018, and former lead singer Les McKeown, who died in 2021.

The Scottish pop rock band became tartan-clad sensations in the UK and US in the 1970s and had hits with songs like Shang-a-lang and Bye Bye Baby.

The Bay City Rollers in 1974 – Left to right: Alan Longmuir, Derek Longmuir, Les Mckeown, Stuart “Woody” Wood, Eric Faulkner

Getty Images The five members of the Bay City Rollers pose arm-in-arm for the camera. Alan wears a trendy mullet with a white sweater and a red jacket with large lapels, Derek, also sporting a mullet, wears a black and white striped jumper, Les, in an impressive bouffant hairstyle, wears a tight white sweater with yellow flower trim, Woody leans forward with his spiky mullet and a white cricket jumper, and Eric keeps it tartan with a white, tartan-trimmed shirt and an impressively layered face-framing hairstyle. They stand outside with a closed wooden door behind them. — The Bay City Rollers in 1974 – Left to right: Alan Longmuir, Derek Longmuir, Les Mckeown, Stuart “Woody” Wood, Eric Faulkner

The community, which has more than 1,500 members around the world, raised the funds by auctioning off clothes that belonged to McKeown.

The items were donated by his widow PekoKeiko Tsukioka.

Current band member Eric Faulkner also provided a tape containing some early demos and previously unheard Bay City Rollers’ music to be sold for a limited time.

Excess funds will be donated to charity.

Former Bay City Roller, Derek Longmuir visited the bench in memory of his brother

Greg Macvean Three people sit on a bench. On the right is a lady with blonde hair and wearing sunglasses next to her is a man wearing a large navy jacket and a hat as well as another woman wearing a black jacket and glasses. — Former Bay City Roller, Derek Longmuir visited the bench in memory of his brother

Fellow band founder Derek Longmuir, brother of Alan, also attended the unveiling.

The group got together in the early 70s and found their name by throwing a dart at a map which landed on Bay City, near Michigan.

Their first single was Keep On Dancing in 1971 and they had two number one hits in 1975 with Bye Bye Baby and Give A Little Love.

The band enjoyed chart-topping album success with Rollin’ (1974) and Once Upon A Star (1975) and went on to sell 120 million records.

But they finally imploded when McKeown left in 1978 and bitter battles over the money they should have been paid dragged on for years.

The benches are situated in Princes Street Gardens, close to the Ross Bandstand where Alan and founding member brother Derek performed in public for the first time as schoolboys.

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