About Les McKeown
Leslie Richard McKeown (12 November 1955 – 20 April 2021) was a Scottish singer, best known as the lead vocalist of the pop rock band Bay City Rollers during their most successful period in the 1970s. The band's original lead singer, Gordon "Nobby" Clark, decided to leave the band in 1972 after fulfilling his touring obligations and McKeown joined the band as their lead vocalist by 1973 and began to re-record his vocals on tracks including "Remember (Sha-La-La-La)" and "Saturday Night", which then became a US number 1 hit. The band released their debut album, Rollin (1974) once McKeown had become their established lead singer, and the album reached number one in the United Kingdom where it finished the year as the 16th best selling album and subsequently was certified Platinum. The band charted with the singles "Shang-a-Lang" and "Summerlove Sensation". Their second album, Once Upon a Star (1975), was supported by the release of the single "Bye, Bye, Baby" in February 1975. The single became the best-selling single of the year in the United Kingdom. In 1975, the band secured their North American breakthrough with the release of "Saturday Night" after receiving backing from music executive Clive Davis. The release reached number 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 as well as in Canada, and was certified Gold in both countries. The compilation album Bay City Rollers was released in September 1975, and reached number 1 in Canada and number 20 on the Billboard 200 albums charts in the United States. Subsequent albums, Wouldn't You Like It? (1975), Rock n' Roll Love Letter (1976), Dedication (1976) and It's a Game (1977) charted highly in the UK. McKeown decided to leave the band on "mutual agreement" in 1978, and launched a solo career which drew audiences in Japan initially. He re-joined the band for a reunion performance in Japan in 1996, and became embroiled in legal disputes with their former record labels, Bell Records and Arista over claims of unpaid royalties. Further reunions, including McKeown on lead vocals, occurred in 2015 through to 2018. One of the most commercially successful acts of the 1970s, the band were called the "tartan teen sensations from Edinburgh", and sold between an estimated 120–300 million records worldwide, making them one of the best selling musical acts of all time globally. This was followed by 2 UK number ones ("Bye Bye Baby", "Give a Little Love") and a U.S. number one ("Saturday Night", which was re-recorded with McKeown as the lead vocalist) a year later.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.