Les McKeown, lead singer of Bay City Rollers, dies at 65 [View all]
Source: Omaha World Herald-CNN
By Rob Picheta, CNN
Scottish singer Les McKeown, who achieved global superstardom in the 1970s as the lead vocalist of tartan-garbed pop titans the Bay City Rollers, has died, his family confirmed Thursday. He was 65.
McKeown fronted the Bay City Rollers during their dizzying heyday in the mid-1970s, when their hits "Shang-A-Lang," "Bye, Bye, Baby," and "Give a Little Love" catapulted them to acclaim and earned them scores of young fans in Britain, the United States and beyond.
Their poster-boy status and pop-rock bops drew comparisons with The Beatles, who had dominated the sound of the previous decade, and the unassuming Edinburgh teens became one of Scotland's most renowned post-war cultural exports.
But "Rollermania," as it was dubbed by music critics, lasted only a few years, and McKeown left the group in 1978. In recent years he has toured again with his former bandmates, fronting a nostalgia tour that visited venues across the United Kingdom and North America.
Singer Les McKeown (center) is seen with the Bay City Rollers in 1974 as the band was breaking into the British charts.
Michael Putland/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Read more: https://omaha.com/entertainment/music/les-mckeown-lead-singer-of-bay-city-rollers-dies-at-65/article_30cdf461-3b46-5d6e-bbe1-7696b0999328.html