# Bay City Rollers singer Les McKeown dies at 65 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** celebrity-death, music\ **Created:** [April 23, 2021, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bay-city-rollers-singer-les-mckeown-dies-at-65/940582 "2021-04-23T03:36:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bay-city-rollers-singer-les-mckeown-dies-at-65/940582/1 "2021-04-23T03:36:19Z")
Yet another icon of my tween-age youth is gone. RIP, Les. > **[Les McKeown, Bay City Rollers Singer, Dead at 65](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/les-mckeown-bay-city-rollers-singer-dead-obit-1159950/)** > > Vocalist featured on hits “Shang-a-Lang” and “Saturday Night” ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bay-city-rollers-singer-les-mckeown-dies-at-65/940582/2 "2021-04-23T13:17:28Z")
Nae! That is entirely too young. What a special place he and his mates held in my wee girl years. RIP, Les; you were always the cutest. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bay-city-rollers-singer-les-mckeown-dies-at-65/940582/3 "2021-04-23T16:10:20Z")
**S A TUR DAY RIP!** Adding because the board doesn’t like my tribute. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bay-city-rollers-singer-les-mckeown-dies-at-65/940582/4 "2021-04-23T16:20:24Z")
No Les No More Biggirl, it was a **T U ESD A Y** ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bay-city-rollers-singer-les-mckeown-dies-at-65/940582/5 "2021-04-23T18:22:53Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > **S A TUR DAY RIP!** > Adding because the board doesn’t like my tribute. > [@Gatopescado](#): > > No Les No More > > Biggirl, it was a **T U ESD A Y** Wha…?! 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bay-city-rollers-singer-les-mckeown-dies-at-65/940582/6 "2021-04-23T18:26:16Z")
I was riffing on one of their most popular songs and Gato was responding that he didn’t RIP on Saturday. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bay-city-rollers-singer-les-mckeown-dies-at-65/940582/7 "2021-04-23T18:29:50Z")
Ah ! Not as cryptic as it looked ! Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bay-city-rollers-singer-les-mckeown-dies-at-65/940582/8 "2021-04-23T20:47:20Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](#): > > Nae! “Nae” or “nay” only means “no” in England. In Scotland “nae” means “not”. ---
**Author:** ![ArtBeforeScience](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@ArtBeforeScience](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArtBeforeScience)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bay-city-rollers-singer-les-mckeown-dies-at-65/940582/9 "2021-04-23T23:03:54Z")
OMG I remember the Bay City Rollers. Wow… Les… you left us so soon. My favorite was probably Eric Faulkner. Those droopy puppy dog eyes. Apropos of nothing. I used to draw fan-boy cartoons of the Bay City Rollers, in the style of Mad Magazine’s Don Martin. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bay-city-rollers-singer-les-mckeown-dies-at-65/940582/10 "2021-04-23T23:15:14Z")
> Although the Bay City Rollers formed in Edinburgh, Scotland, in the mid-Sixties, it wasn’t until the recruitment of McKeown in 1973 that the band found global mainstream success, first in Europe (where they were considered [one of the first “boy bands”) and soon after in America. Gonna call bullshit on that. Teeny-boppers, OK, but not boy band. They actually played instruments and couldn’t dance for shit. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2021, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bay-city-rollers-singer-les-mckeown-dies-at-65/940582/11 "2021-04-24T02:42:48Z")
Just thinking about the term ‘Flood Pants’ still makes me laugh to this day. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2021, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bay-city-rollers-singer-les-mckeown-dies-at-65/940582/12 "2021-04-24T16:10:09Z")
I learned everything I know about the Bay City Rollers from So I Married an Axe Murderer. 1) They are Scottish and 2) S A TUR DAY NIGHT! ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2021, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bay-city-rollers-singer-les-mckeown-dies-at-65/940582/13 "2021-04-24T22:30:07Z")
Those would be a hoot to see! I had some friends get mad at me when we were doing a unit on ancient Rome, and we got extra credit for doing posters. Mine was a concert poster advertising a show by the Pompeii City Rollers. They thought that was some kind of, like, sacrilege. ---
**Author:** ![ArtBeforeScience](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@ArtBeforeScience](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArtBeforeScience)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2021, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bay-city-rollers-singer-les-mckeown-dies-at-65/940582/14 "2021-04-24T22:50:01Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Those would be a hoot to see! Sadly I have not preserved that particular youthful folly… ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2021, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bay-city-rollers-singer-les-mckeown-dies-at-65/940582/15 "2021-04-24T22:57:41Z")
_And everything will be outta sight,_ _When Les sings “Money” at the Rollers Show tonight._ –[Rollers Show](https://youtu.be/MKKEbrYVbjo) by Nick Lowe ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2021, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bay-city-rollers-singer-les-mckeown-dies-at-65/940582/16 "2021-04-24T23:00:03Z")
Great song! So is this one. (Borderline NSFW.) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/0wIw1Uz1eq0/maxresdefault.jpg "Nick Lowe - "36 Inches High" (Official Audio)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wIw1Uz1eq0) ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2021, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bay-city-rollers-singer-les-mckeown-dies-at-65/940582/17 "2021-04-24T23:42:34Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > _And everything will be outta sight,_ > _When Les sings “Money” at the Rollers Show tonight._ Ah, every time I saw this thread, I wanted to post that song, but got distracted. Thanks for doing the work, **blondebear**! ETA: I was born in 1968, so glam rock and British teenie bands were my first musical experiences, but somehow the Bay City Rollers never registered much back then with me. Maybe they never were in [Disco](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disco_(TV_series)), at least I don’t remember. ETA2: of course they were: (I must have missed that show, at least I can’t remember, although I still remember Suzi Quatro doing “48 Crash” in Disco when I was five years old) [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCtHt0VESw8) ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2021, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bay-city-rollers-singer-les-mckeown-dies-at-65/940582/18 "2021-04-26T13:00:46Z")
> [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](#): > > Nae” or “nay” only means “no” in England. In Scotland “nae” means “not”. Thank you for fighting my ignorance! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2021, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bay-city-rollers-singer-les-mckeown-dies-at-65/940582/19 "2021-04-26T16:52:07Z")
To be more accurate, “nae” is used for “no” in words or phrases like “naebody” or “I’ve nae money” in Scotland, but it isn’t used as an interjection or the opposite of “yes”.