Bye bye, Alan...

(BCR fans may recognize the allusion in the title to their hit "Bye Bye Baby," a remake of the classic Four Seasons song.)  ;)  

Alan Longmuir died yesterday. The name probably means nothing to most of you out there, but for me, he was part of one of my most integral teenage experiences: the 2-3 years of my life that revolved around the Bay City Rollers. As when David Cassidy died last November, a little piece of my youth, and my heart, died along with him.

Alan wasn't the most prominent member of the group, nor my personal favourite (that would be Stuart "Woody" Wood ;) ) (interestingly, nothing I've read indicates that Woody & his wife have children...) but he was part of the group, nevertheless, and was in fact its founder. Alan started the Rollers (then called The Saxons) with his younger brother Derek in the 1960s. He left the group in 1976, just as their fame was peaking (he was gone by the time I saw the Rollers in August that year -- my very first concert! -- FORTY-TWO YEARS AGO!! -- replaced by a 17-year-old Irish boy named Ian Mitchell). I understand he didn't get along with their tyrant of a manager, and he was having difficulty dealing with the stresses of fame. He was 28 years old -- five years older than the next-oldest Roller, Eric Faulkner -- and at the time, 28 seemed positively ancient to 15-year-old me & my friends. :)  Even now, I see fans commenting on social media, "He was SEVENTY??!!"  -- like most of us aren't in our 50s now ourselves, lol. ;)

I've written about my Rollermania days a few times here on the blog, including last summer, when I found some relics of those days in the closet at my mother's house -- things I'd once dreamed of showing my daughter. Ah, youth.

Les McKeown was the Rollers' frontman, but on the rare occasions that Alan sang lead, it was a delight. Here for your viewing & listening pleasure, in all their '70s glory, the Bay City Rollers with Alan singing lead on "Rock & Roll Honeymoon."  (I was humming this song constantly during the week of my nephew's wedding this spring.)

Rest in peace, Alan, and thanks for the great memories.