Bye bye to the rollers

Life after the Rollers was tough for Les McKeown. He found he had no money and no record company would touch him thanks to his contract with Arista. Finally his solo career got off the ground in Japan. Then there were sporadic attempts to reunite with the other Rollers and the fight for the cash due to them is ongoing. And despite it all, Les says he still hopes for reconciliation

BACK in London, I began trying to get my affairs in order. I spent my first week as a solo artist in numerous accountants’ and lawyers’ offices, trying to find out where all my money was. Slowly the horrible truth became clear - I didn’t have any. All the band members’ money was tied up in a complex web of company accounts.

Next I found out that I was liable for a 24,000 American Express bill which had been spent mainly on band-related expenses. The worst part was finding out that my house at Torphichen wasn’t really mine at all, and having to turf out my mum and dad and my brother who’d been living there.

I also had to move into a tiny £19-a-week bedsit. Eventually I managed to get £35,000 out of the band but that went on settling outstanding tax payments due on earnings and legal fees.

Luckily, there were record companies eager to sign me. I signed a £100,000 five-album deal with Eastworld, a division of Toshiba EMI in Japan. Against that I was able to borrow £50,000 from Coutts and I went out celebrating with Mr Nakamura from my new publishing company. That night I laid eyes on the most beautiful Japanese lady I had ever seen. Her name was Keiko, but she called herself Peko.

I’d teamed up with a guy called Scobie Ryder and we got to work on the songs for my first solo album. I had a meeting with Clive Davis who declared that he wouldnae be signing me as a solo artist. Then I was on the verge of signing with Chrysalis when a telex came through from Arista saying they would sue any company that signed me.

I think I can be forgiven for becoming very bitter at that point. My lawyer at the time, who was also the lawyer for a record company called Warwick, came up with a way round Arista. I’d have to indemnify any record company I dealt with against any Arista action. I had to do the same with Eastworld.

I signed with Warwick Records. They flung money at promoting the album. In Woolworths’ windows you could see a lifesize cardboard cut-out of me emerging from the sea. Bereft of tartan, at last, I was kitted out in a black one-shouldered Lycra catsuit and had long hair. Sales of All Washed Up, the first solo album by Leslie McKeown and his self-deprecatingly named band, Ego Trip, would go through the roof.

That’s when the workers at ITV decided to strike. The ads never went out, no-one knew about the album. The shops returned them unsold. If it wasn’t for Peko, I’d probably have ended up drinking or drugging myself to death. We’d really hit it off and had moved in together.

Finally, I got some money through from Japan for the album and I found my parents a beautiful house in Cornwall. All Washed Up went to the top of the album charts in Japan and earned me my first solo gold disc. Three solo albums were released in Japan that year.

In 1981 my fifth album, Sweet Pain was released. Then Eastworld called to tell me that it wasn’t doing well and they wanted to amend our contract. My manager Olav Viper thought this unfair, so got me a deal with Trio Kenwood for an album of covers.

Heart Control, released in 1982, didn’t do well. Viper got 50 per cent of the profits, leaving me, once again, short on funds and wondering how I got into something against my better judgement.

Things weren’t rosy on the family front either. My brother Brian and his wife convinced me that it wasn’t a good idea for our parents to stay in Cornwall in case one of them took ill. The house my mum and dad loved was sold, freeing up a load of equity. Brian used the cash to buy them a new flat, and to buy a snooker hall in Edinburgh. The idea was that I’d be a partner in the business and get my money back in no time. I wasn’t a partner and I didn’t get my money back in no time. I cannae explain how it felt to be let down by my own flesh and blood. By the time I got a call from Eric Faulkner, I was feeling pretty desperate.

Eric wanted to get the band back together. Short of cash, I agreed. We recorded a cover of Bucks Fizz’s Piece Of The Action, which was released in Japan in July. Pat and I started writing songs, and we all started work on a new album. But the recording sessions in Edinburgh didn’t go well. I didn’t like the production, so one night, aided and abetted by my good friend Charlie, I went back to the studio and wiped the tapes! Derek quit and Alan and the others didn’t have a lot to do with the album after that.

The old tensions were mounting again, sometimes diminished and sometimes exacerbated by the various substances around. We managed to hold everything together a bit longer and toured Ireland at the beginning of 1985. One night, Pat and I got out of it and systematically knifed every can of beer on the bus. Eric threw in the towel and quit.

By the time I got back to England, I had to admit I had a coke problem. It’s enough to say that, with the support of my wife, the realisation of what I stood to lose was enough to turn things around.

In 1988, the first Rollers CD was released in Germany by Arista, who then released the first Japanese CD compilation of Rollers hits, followed by an eight-CD box set. They claimed they could not pay us royalties because they didn’t know where to send the money.

The 90s started well enough. I accepted a couple of retro gigs after I was asked to put together a band to convey the original sound of the Rollers and was booked to do a glam rock gig at the Town and Country Club in Camden. A week before the gig, I received a letter from Eric’s solicitors saying he’d set up a company called Bay City Rollers Ltd in 1989, appointed himself and his wife Kass as sole directors and then registered the name as a trademark.

I was infringing their copyright by using the name Bay City Rollers, I wasn’t allowed to sing any songs owned by their company, and I couldn’t "pass myself off" as a Roller. The crux of the matter was who should have the right to use the name: Eric said only his Bay City Rollers. I argued that all of us should be able to.

The matter finally went before a judge in February 1992 who ruled I was allowed to continue to use the name provided I added something like "ex", "former", "70s", "Real" or "Legendary" before it. My new band went from strength to strength as the market for retro gigs grew. Then it was reported that there was £2 million sitting in a US bank but that feuding within the band prevented us getting it. Not long after I got a call from a guy called Mark St John, who explained he was a lawyer who had been successful in getting back royalties for other bands. In September, I met Mark and Eric in London and we had a sensible discussion about our chances of recovering the money.

The plan was that Arista would release a reunited Rollers album and pay us an amount of money in line with the royalties they had been allegedly unable to pay before. Then in the autumn of 1998, Derek Longmuir pleaded guilty to having various pornographic photos and videos in his possession. The case dragged on for the best part of two years and cast a black cloud over our plans. Derek had no option but to withdraw from recording and tour plans.

The fact that a happy conclusion was becoming increasingly unlikely became clear at the millennium gig in Princes Street. I couldnae believe it when Eric started switching keys as I was about to start singing just like he had 21 years before. Then the gigs supposed to happen in February 2000 were cancelled because of Alan’s ill health and the bad publicity surrounding Derek.

I was tired, depressed and broke. It was a horrible time. But last year has been the worst of my life. My nephew, dad and mum all died. When my dad went into hospital, I was really touched that Derek talked to the various doctors and translated everything into English. Then Woody and his wife Denise came along to the funeral to pay their respects. It meant a lot. I’ve also had a few beers with Alan.

As for Eric I’ll take this opportunity to say I’m sorry that I joined the Rollers too late and I’m sorry lead singers get more attention than other band members. But none of these things are my fault. We are bound by our past and could be so strong together, but progress - not revenge - has to be the priority. Some good must come out of everything we’ve all been through.