Original Bay City Rollers frontman Nobby Clark to play band’s songs for first time in 50 years

22 March 2022, 13:08 | Updated: 18 September 2023, 10:43

2015: Bay City Rollers stars pose outside Glasgow hotel after announcing return

Les McKeown was the classic era singer of the Bay City Rollers, but he wasn't actually their first frontman.

The Bay City Rollers have gone through many lineup changes over the years.

Les McKeown – who died last year at the age of 65 – was the singer for their heyday, fronting hits like 'Shang-a-Lang', 'Summerlove Sensation' and their cover of The Four Seasons 'Bye, Bye, Baby'.

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Les also sung on 'Remember (Sha-La-La-La)' and 'Saturday Night' when they appeared on the Rollers' debut album Rollin', but the singer of the first single versions was their original frontman Gordon 'Nobby' Clark.

Now, Clark will sing those tracks and the other pre-Les Rollers' singles in concert for the first time in 50 years.

At the age of 71, Nobby has announced two special dinner shows at Dine Restaurant on Cambridge Street in Edinburgh on Monday April 18 and Tuesday April 19.

Saturday Night

Billed as Nobby Clark: The Forgotten Songs of the Bay City Rollers, the shows will feature the early Rollers' hits with their original singer and other songs by the group that were never released at the time.

Tickets include dinner and a Q&A with Clark, and go on sale midday this Friday, March 25, Edinburgh Evening News reports.

"I'm excited about these gigs," Nobby said. "I haven't really sung these songs since leaving the band in 1973.

"In all that time I think I've done a performance of 'Remember' and a couple of performances of a slightly different version of 'Keep On Dancing'.

Keep On Dancing

"That's it. So it'll be a first doing 'Manana' and all those other songs again."

Of not performing his old work with the Rollers over the decades, he added: "I​'ve ​avoided ​doing that​ for many reasons.

"It just didn't​ ​sit well with me and I kept putting it off, but recently I've added one or two Rollers' ​songs ​to my set and found I enjoyed singing them again.

"​​I​ rediscovered them and that led me to revisit songs we did that never got released​, a couple ​of which ​I'll do in this show.​"