Two former members of the iconic Bay City Rollers, Alan Longmuir and Les McKeown, have been honored with memorial benches in Edinburgh’s Princes Street Gardens.
The tributes were funded by Still Rollin, an online fan group that raised over £12,000 for the project.
The Scottish pop-rock band rose to fame in the 1970s, becoming a sensation in both the UK and the US with hits like Shang-a-lang and Bye Bye Baby. Founding member Alan Longmuir passed away in 2018, while former lead singer Les McKeown died in 2021.
The funds for the benches were raised through auctions of McKeown’s personal clothing, generously donated by his widow, PekoKeiko Tsukioka.
Current band member Eric Faulkner also contributed by providing a tape of early demos and previously unheard Bay City Rollers music for a limited-time sale. Any extra funds from the project will be donated to charity.
Derek Longmuir, Alan’s brother and a fellow band founder, attended the unveiling ceremony.
The benches are placed near the Ross Bandstand, a location with sentimental value, as it was where Alan and Derek first performed together as schoolboys.
The band, which formed in the early 1970s, famously picked their name by throwing a dart at a map, which landed on Bay City, Michigan.
Their debut single, Keep On Dancing, was released in 1971, followed by two UK number-one hits in 1975—Bye Bye Baby and Give A Little Love.
With chart-topping albums like Rollin’ (1974) and Once Upon A Star (1975), the group sold over 120 million records worldwide.
However, internal tensions led to McKeown’s departure in 1978, and financial disputes over their earnings continued for years.
Now, with these memorial benches, the legacy of Alan Longmuir and Les McKeown lives on, giving fans a place to remember the music and magic of the Bay City Rollers.
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