Gold Record [Level 7]
Bay City Rollers suing former label for millions
By Dean Goodman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The members of the Bay City Rollers, a Scottish teeny-bopper band that briefly enjoyed worldwide stardom in the 1970s, sued their former record label on Tuesday, seeking millions of dollars in unpaid royalties.
According to the suit against Arista Records, filed in the U.S. District Court in New York, the group said they sold at least 70 million albums worldwide but received only a single royalty payment of about $254,000 in more than 25 years.
The suit does not estimate how much the band is owed, in part because of incomplete royalty statements, but "we know it's in the millions," Joshua Krumholz, one of their attorneys, said in an interview.
A spokesman for Arista Records, a unit of Sony BMG Music Entertainment, declined comment. Sony BMG is a unit of Sony Corp. and Bertelsmann AG.
The suit lists the five members who were in the band during its mid-'70s heyday -- singer Les McKeown, guitarists Eric Faulkner and Stuart Wood, bass player Alan Longmuir and his brother, Derek. Also listed is Duncan Faure, who replaced McKeown in 1978 after the band's fortunes had faded.
The Bay City Rollers, decked in their trademark tartan costumes, inspired a wave of "Rollermania" around the world as screaming girls flocked to their concerts and snapped up their records. Breathless reports at the time often focused on pools of urine at their shows left by over-excited fans.
After conquering Britain with such top-five hits as "Shang-A-Lang" and "Summerlove Sensation," the Bay City Rollers topped the U.S. charts in early 1976 with their first American single, "Saturday Night." They achieved legendary status in Japan, and were also big in Australia.
The fame never translated into much financial success for the band because of low royalty rates. Also, the band did not write some of its biggest hits, such as "Shang-A-Lang" and "I Only Wanna Be With You."
The lawsuit says Arista executives over the years have repeatedly promised to pay royalties but did not know who to pay. The suit says that was a "pretext intended to deprive (the band) of the royalties to which they are entitled."
The suit claims, among other things, breach of contract and fiduciary duty. In addition to seeking compensatory and punitive damages, it demands a full accounting statement as well as the transfer of all master recordings and any copyrights.
The money could come in handy. McKeown tours small venues with a group dubbed Les McKeown's Legendary Bay City Rollers. Krumholz said Derek Longmuir is a nurse, while another former member is a plumber.
No Longer Charting
Imeanlets face it. they shoul be given what they are owed. they gave aural pleasure to millions every where at the time and that cannot go ignored or unnoticed they have been wronged and they should be righted and payed all that they are owed it is theres...
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I fail to see how this is of any interest to people reading a Disco music site, but..............they did sell lotsa records to teeny boppers in their heyday.
Gold Record [Level 7]
Originally Written by QUINNY
Oh Dear! Its that Bucket woman again!
Reee-chard? Reee-chard? Can you please remove this undesirable person from our proximity?
No Longer Charting
HA HA!!
i would have thought that quinnys mentally unstable condition warrants sectioning, i mean we need Laura pallas in an abulance now honey! emergencey,quinnys goona leave me,and i just dont know how to catch vd!!!!...
No Longer Charting
Takes one to know one, dahling!!
Triple Platinum Record [Level 10]
Is the disco version of their "Don't Stop The Music" on any cd compilation?? I only see the shorter version on the Greatest Hits comps at AMG....I know it was the b-side of the 7"....
"Lost inside adorable illusion...."
Double Platinum Record [Level 9]
*****
Quinny ...... a little more UK disco pride please:
Hey Marky .....that reminds me :Consensus Chart #91 (volume 2: #29 ):
July 17, 1976
47) * DON'T STOP THE MUSIC (Special disco mix version) - Bay City Rollers
(Arista 7" single/ special disco mix on b-side/ Canadian 12": 6:00) (2 points/ F)
1 week on the chart/ *DEBUT
Will return !! Right there! You promised !! Will return!DROPPED OFF July 24,1976
*DON'T STOP THE MUSIC - Bay City Rollers (was #47/ 1 week on the chart/ *will return)
*****
Baby, take me
high upon a hillside
high up where the stallion
meets the sun
No Longer Charting
I'm extremely glad to say that I was out of the UK when the 'Rollers were at the height of their popularity. I never owned one single record by them and never would. UK Disco Pride? More like UK Disco embarrassment.*****
Quinny ...... a little more UK disco pride please:
Hey Marky .....that reminds me :
Will return !! Right there! You promised !! Will return!
*****
Chart Hit [Level 6]
Hey Guys, The Rollers WERE HUGE here in their day...some good songs, but NOT really disco, although they would be played at school disco's and the like as this was the great POP explosion !!- songs are more like a rehash of 50's / 60's stuff probably liked by their manager TAM the con man ....the lads seem to have been stitched up good time.
However, their big disco hit still eludes me but I have seen the video clip on a videoskooter post I think...THE SONG WAS DIRE, I really don't know why it garnered any attention, unless it was the teenybopper canadians who bought it ??
Hope Les is not posting here,... he is VERY bitter :icon_mad: and has spent his life trying to get his money back :icon_twisted:
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