British musician Les McKeown has died at the age of 65.
Former singer of the Bay City Rollers, he had participated in the greatest hits of the group in the mid-1970s, from
Bye Bye Baby
to
Saturday Night
, their number one in the United States.
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“
It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of our beloved husband and father, Leslie Richard McKeown. Leslie died suddenly at his home on Tuesday, April 20, 2021. We are organizing his funeral and ask you to respect our privacy in the face of the shock of our terrible loss,
”his wife Peko Keiko and his son Jubei posted on the Twitter account. artist.
When the native of Edinburgh joined the Rollers in 1973, they were at the bottom of the wave.
The group struggled to recover from a single hit, a cover of The Gentrys, in 1971. Tired by a series of unsuccessful singles, then singer Gordon Clark threw in the towel gave way to Les McKeown, everything just 18 years old.
The new kid recorded at the start of the following year the voices of
Shang-a-Lang
, the first hit in a long series for these new Bay City Rollers.
Personal successes and dramas
Proud of their origins, the pop group then became a hit machine in the United Kingdom and formed a swarm of young fans all dressed in tartan, in homage to the homeland of their idols. This commercial success will push the band to the United States, where the group will place three singles in the top 100 of the Billboard, the Holy Grail for all Anglo-Saxon musicians at that time. But the punk hurricane and the future new-wave will eventually bring down the Bay City Rollers and their sweet songs into disuse.
In 1978, and when he was only 22 years old, Les McKeown began a rather confidential solo career in the West, and met with real success in Japan.
His discography ended in 2016 with the release of his final album
The Lost Songs
.
During a tour in 2015, he was back on stage with the group that made his success.
His personal life has been marked by tragedies.
In 1975, the man he had crashed while driving a septuagenarian, died instantly.
Falling into alcohol and drugs because of his lifestyle, and traumatized by the death of his parents, Les McKeown had become sober in 2008 after rehab.