Pioneer Tam Paton milked success for Bay City Rollers

Published on Thursday 30 April 2009 09:41

Rollermania captured hearts of millions but it was tireless work of band's manager that created the perfect boy group

AT the peak of their success, the Bay City Rollers were global superstars. Their fresh-faced looks, tartan-trimmed glamour and long, flowing hair had teenage girls from New York to Tokyo screaming with desire.

Behind their success was Tam Paton, their manager and mentor, who had worked tirelessly to create the perfect manufactured boy-band.

His role as an image-maker would set a template for years to come, with bands as diverse as 70s punk rockers the Sex Pistols to pre-teen 90s favourite Take That owing their success to management methods and media manipulation pioneered by Paton.

In the eyes of fans, the boys were single, fun-loving young men that any mother or father would be delighted to see their daughters dating.

Paton insisted that the Rollers preferred drinking milkshakes to alcohol – and the fans bought it, even though the reality was that the boys were living the high life with drug and drink-fuelled parties by now the norm.

"We would go to a press conference – everybody gets wine or whatever now – but we would get jugs of milk," former Roller Eric Faulkner once recalled. "It was all a bit surreal, really. And we were thinking, 'Are people actually going to buy this? Are they going to believe that we drink milk?' But it seems the media wanted that."

The line-up changed over the years, with members introduced and dropped on a regular basis – some after a few bare months. Paton was also smart enough to include established Scottish song-writers in the Rollers' team.

Even with Paton leading them, success wasn't overnight for the Rollers. The boys had met Paton in Edinburgh in the late 1960s. They had signed to Bell Records and their first single, Keep on Dancing, had charted at number nine in 1971.

But full-blown Rollermania would take another three years and all of Paton's pop management skills. In fact, in the years after Keep on Dancing it looked as though the Rollers were going to be one-hit wonders. Their singles (including We Can Make Music and Manana – a song Paton later described as "a mess") failed to chart. Then in 1974 their album Rollin' headed straight for the number one slot, following the single Remember (Sha La La) which went in at number six.

While the musical merits of that hit compared to the earlier flops may have played their part, there is little doubt the major change was Paton ratcheting up the marketing machine.

He had managed to get his hands on a David Cassidy fan club directory, allowing him to send thousands of pictures of the Rollers to potential fans across the country.

"I sent out loads and loads of these postcards. In fact, I borrowed 500 from my parents for the postage alone," Paton recalled in an interview in 2000. "At that time, the stamps were about two and a half pence, so you can imagine how many cards we sent away.

"I sent these cards everywhere. I sent them to DJs, to television producers, to everybody. That picture went out everywhere. My mother, her friends, myself, we sat down and did all that ourselves. We posted away thousands of these cards."

Roadie at the time, Jake Duncan, remembered Paton's idea to generate interest in his band. "It was largely down to Tam Paton going through teen magazines that used to have girls writing in asking for penfriends," he said. "He would note down every one and send them a picture of the band to get them interested. Eventually the girls went out of control."

The fans began to multiply; the next single Shang-A-Lang went in at number two, Summerlove Sensation at number three and All of Me Loves All of You at number four. By 1975, the Rollers had their long-awaited first number one single – their biggest ever hit – Bye Bye Baby, which stayed at the top for six weeks. Paton later admitted it was his decision for the band to record the track – a cover of the 1965 Four Seasons recording.

Soon the band had their own TV show, another number one and even cracked the notoriously tough US market.

Around this time, owing to his homosexuality – which was now becoming more widely known – Paton was advised to enter a "fake engagement" with a woman.

"The publicist thought that was bad for the image – if they (the media] thought that the Rollers had a homosexual manager, they could all be rolling about in bed with me," he later explained.

"So, I got wangled into this stupid engagement thing. It was the one decision I didn't take for myself, it was taken for me by a female publicist I sacked at a later date because I thought she wasn't very good at her job. I was better at doing it myself."

Meanwhile, with thousands of screaming fans following them wherever they headed across the world, the tartan-clad band from Edinburgh appeared unstoppable.

"We were prisoners of our own success," former Roller Alan Longmuir told the Evening News last year. "My sister was getting married in 1975 and I remember leaving my parents' house to go to the wedding and being mobbed by girls pulling my hair and ripping at my clothes. They even tore off my flower.

"It was insane, it got scary. I used to try to get out by myself to go for a pint – sometimes they didn't recognise you if you were wearing ordinary clothes."

But behind the scenes, there were arguments. When punk hit the music scene in 1977, the band was already on the wane. Their single release You Made Me Believe in Magic only charted at number 34 that August.

"There was a huge clash of egos between Les (McKeown] and Eric (Faulkner], they just couldn't sort things out," Alan said. "There were a lot of drugs going about too and we were working under intense pressure."

Members – including Alan – left and with arguments over the direction the band was to take musically, Paton was sensationally fired in 1978, leaving the boys to continue with an altogether different line-up, known simply as The Rollers.

Paton returned to Edinburgh. His home would be a mansion off Gogar Station Road where he lived until he died earlier this month in his hot tub, of a suspected heart attack.

Controversy would dog him for the rest of his life – he was accused of fleecing the Rollers of their cash and later of sexually abusing two of them. He also fell foul of the law over drugs and indecency.

But all that was to come. At the time, he said later, he was just pleased to have left the Rollermania days, with their accompanying rows and feuds, behind.

"I was glad the day they sacked me. That day I just sat back and I thought, Jesus, thank God.

"I never thought I had been that happy in all my life."

The ever-changing faces of pop music sensations

THE faces who made up the Bay City Rollers changed many times over the years, but this is the line-up which most fans see as the classic.

&#149 Eric Faulkner, 1972–1981, guitarist: One of several members of the Rollers who in recent years engaged in a lengthy – and unresolved – legal wrangle with Tam Paton over the band's royalties. Still a musician, working solo and with various bands including Faulkner's Bay City Rollers. Son of a GMB shop steward, in 2007 he returned to his political roots, appearing at the Glastonbury Festival, playing ahead of a speech by veteran politician Tony Benn.

&#149 Stuart "Woody" Wood, 1974–1981, guitarist: Born in 1957 in Edinburgh, he replaced John Devine in the band's line-up. Co-writer of many of the Rollers' songs, including Money Honey and Love Me Like I Love You. He's now a producer for musicians including The MacDonald Brothers. Produced an autobiographical documentary of his life on DVD, Rollercoaster, in 2007. Also engaged in the fight for royalties.

&#149 Les McKeown, 1973–1979, singer: Originally from Broomhouse, he joined the band aged 18, after the departure of Nobby Clark. Claimed that Paton raped him when he was 18 or 19 and threatened to kill him if he spoke out about it. In later years, he has had a well-documented struggle with alcoholism. Was also battling Tam Paton for a greater share of the band's royalties. Now tours with Les McKeown's Legendary Bay City Rollers.

&#149 Alan Longmuir, 1969–1976 and 1978–1981, bassist and founder member: Born in Edinburgh in 1948 and grew up in Dalry. Founded the band as The Saxons with his brother Derek and Nobby Clark in 1967. After leaving the band for the second time, he played the lead in the 1981 car and truck racing film Burning Rubber. Now working as a plumber in Dundee. Also engaged in the royalties fight.

&#149 Derek Longmuir, 1969–1981, founder member, drummer: Born in 1951 and also grew up in Dalry. After leaving the band, he trained as a nurse and worked at the ERI. In 2000, he admitted possessing child pornography and was given 300 hours of community service. However, he was later allowed to continue practising as a nurse. Also engaged in the royalties fight.

THERE were at least another 14 members of the Bay City Rollers over the years, many of whom were in the line-up for just a few months. Among them were:

&#149 Gordon "Nobby" Clark, 1969–1973, singer: Born in Edinburgh in 1950, he was a founder member of the band and remained on good terms with Paton. Paton said Clark had left the band because he had a girlfriend and wanted to spend more time with her. The only Roller to attend Paton's funeral, where he said: "I just wanted to come along to remember the good times that we had." Now working as a solo artist.

&#149 Pat McGlynn, 1976-1977, guitarist: Born in Edinburgh in 1958. Replaced Ian Mitchell, who himself was only in the band for a matter of months. In 2003, he alleged that Paton had raped him in a hotel room in 1977 while the band was on tour. There was a lengthy police investigation, but the case was thrown out in 2007 because there was insufficient evidence.

&#149 Duncan Faure, 1978–1981, singer: South African born, he joined the band after the departure of McKeown. The only Roller outside the "classic" line-up to be engaged in the legal battle for royalties. His single 24 Hours was on Madonna's Who's That Girl? soundtrack. He now lives in the US where he works as a singer/songwriter/musician.