Shang-a-lang: Life as an International Pop Idol

by Lynne Elliott (Author), Irvine Welsh (Foreword), LES MCKEOWN (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2003

  $26.16

  SHANG-A-LANG is the long-awaited personal story of the rise and fall of the Bay City Rollers.A no-holds barred account of Rollermania and beyond, the book provides a candid insight into the less savoury aspects of the music industry. In 1973, at the age of 18, Les McKeown became the lead singer of the Bay City Rollers, at that stage a one-hit-wonder pop group on the verge of giving up. His charismatic personality transformed the Rollers into an international super-group. Over the next few years, they consistently reached No.1 all over the world, selling an estimated 300 million records and gaining a massive following. McKeown was the catalyst for the worldwide mass hysteria not witnessed since the days of Beatlemania. By 1975 he was the most adored man on the planet. Four years later, he was all washed up, homeless and penniless after quitting the Rollers. SHANG-A-LANG reveals the fascinating story of the lad from the back streets of Edinburgh whose dream came true, and how that dream was shattered. It tells the truth about the scandalous behaviour of the boy band marketed as squeaky clean, the wrangles that led to Les leaving the band, and traces his subsequent solo career. Les McKeown's life has been one of contrasting extremes: immense wealth followed by near destitution; mass adoration on the one hand and contempt on the other. He lived in a world where fantasy and reality come together and it is sometimes hard to distinguish one from the other.