Ep269: Les McKeown of the Bay City Rollers - In Memorium
The Vinyl Guide - Artist Interviews for Record Collectors and Music Nerds
Nate Goyer
4.7 • 579 Ratings
🗓️ 23 April 2021
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Les McKeown: Nov 12, 1955-April 20, 2021
This is a replay of our conversation with Les McKeown originally aired as Ep126 of The Vinyl Guide podcast.
In the space of one year, Les McKeown went from being an unknown kid in Scotland to selling millions of records and having his own TV show. Today we talk about what was happening inside the Rollermania cocoon, the dodgy characters along the way and how Les still brings Bay City Rollers music to the masses.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Well, hey, everyone, it's Nate. Today is Friday, April 23rd, 2021, here in Sydney, Australia. |
| 0:08.1 | And I'm coming to you on a special episode, unfortunately. A few hours ago, we received word that |
| 0:14.6 | former guest and friend of the show, Les McEwen of the Bay City Rollers, passed away. |
| 0:19.8 | Les apparently passed away earlier this week. |
| 0:22.6 | His family tweeted that out on Les's official Twitter account, and our sympathies and condolences |
| 0:29.5 | absolutely go out to them. |
| 0:31.9 | Today, I wanted to replay a conversation that Les and I had a few years ago. |
| 0:36.0 | In 2018, Les was getting ready to tour Australia, |
| 0:39.7 | and he and I got to have quite an extensive conversation on what it was like being a Bay City Roller. |
| 0:45.8 | Now, this is a band that sold over 100 million records worldwide, with fanatical fan worship |
| 0:52.2 | that only approached what the Beatles experienced at the height of Beatlemania. |
| 0:56.5 | The band was carted around in Brinks trucks. |
| 0:59.5 | There was a lot of dangerous situations, and less talks about that today. |
| 1:04.8 | The band also was a pop sensation without the money or means to really protect themselves in their families. |
| 1:12.6 | So that is quite an interesting bit of conversation that we get into today. |
| 1:17.5 | Of course, they have the dodgy managers. |
| 1:19.1 | They got bilked out of millions of dollars. |
| 1:21.2 | But he seems to have had quite an amazing life throughout it all. |
| 1:25.1 | And Les talks about that today. |
| 1:27.2 | Again, I want to share this with you. |
| 1:29.4 | It wasn't honored to have Les on the show. So that's what I'm going to share today, a bit of a |
| 1:33.7 | rerun, all the way back from 2018, episode 126, our conversation with Les McEwen. Rest in peace, Les. |
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