New albums add fuel to Bay City Rollers' rage over royalties

BAY City Rollers stars Pat McGlynn and Nobby Clark have told how they are preparing for a fresh battle in their long-running fight for unpaid royalties after two new greatest hits albums were released.

• Nobby Clark says he is owed money for tracks on The Greatest Hits album

Sony Music, which owns the Rollers' former record label Arista Records, released the albums The Greatest Hits and The Best Of last month.

Clark's vocals feature on tracks Keep on Dancing, Saturday Night, and Remember on both albums, while McGlynn's guitar playing and backing vocals can be heard across the two CDs on hits You Made Me Believe in Magic, The Way I Feel Tonight and It's a Game.

McGlynn, 52, and Clark, 59, are embroiled in a court battle alleging they are due millions of pounds of unpaid royalties and said the most recent releases would now form part of their claim.

Clark, the original singer and founder member of the legendary Edinburgh group, said: "We are in court in New York against the record company and meanwhile the Bay City Rollers' Greatest Hits and The Best Of albums have been released, and there is no agreement to pay us royalties.

"I found out about it the day after the albums were released, I was raging. I drove right to Sainsbury's at Cameron Toll that morning to buy The Greatest Hits so I could listen to it, and I listened to The Best Of online. I immediately checked all the tracks and three of the tracks have my vocals on them.

"How could they do that knowing that my vocals were on the albums?"

Clark added: "My lawyer got in touch with the record company to try and slap an injunction on them when we heard about the albums, but by that time they were already in the shops.

"They haven't paid me a single penny in more than 30 years for my performances. I haven't received any publishing or performance royalties. I am tearing my hair out."

Clark also pointed out that an image of former Roller Ian Mitchell, who is also involved in the legal dispute, had been used on the back cover of The Greatest Hits album.

McGlynn, from Straiton, added: "I have been fighting for 30 years to get my money.

"I just cannot believe that a record company can release material and not pay us, it just drives me crazy. It it hard to believe, you would think it would be against human rights.

"On three tracks I am playing guitar and on backing vocals."

Bay City Rollers: The Greatest Hits is currently at number 30 in the UK charts. The Best Of album was released in Japan. A spokesman for Sony Music declined to comment.