One minute I was having tea at Britt Ekland’s in Hollywood, next I was a plumber going round in a little van

Between 1974 and 1977, there were few weeks when the UK pop charts did not feature a Bay City Rollers song. Fans from as far as Japan went wild for the working class boy band and their upbeat hits, such as Bye Bye Baby and Shang-alang.

At the height of the hysteria, the band had a team of 17 full-time staff just dealing with fan mail, their own magazine, a clothing range and a 20-part TV series in the UK and US – at the time something only achieved by the Osmonds and the Jackson 5.

Alan once said: “In Hollywood the record company gave us our own house and flash cars in LA.

“I had breakfast with Barbra Streisand and my birthday party had Britt Ekland at it. We were at the Grease premiere with Olivia Newton-john, supported the Bee Gees and we had Elton John’s phone number.” He also recalled dining with CITY ROLLER crooner Dean Martin in Las Vegas. “He took us to dinner in MGM and the waiter came down and said, ‘Mr Longmuir, I know Mr Martin is paying the bill, but not the tip’. I had to pay it – about fifty dollars.”

The band, who for a while made half-mast, tartantrimmed trousers and stripy socks hip, had the world at their feet, but little in their pockets.

Managed by the controlling, and now disgraced, Tam Paton, they saw little of the royalties due to them, which today would be worth around €5.6billion.

Alan said: “Tam Paton screwed a lot of things up. Just to stir it up one time, he said once that he got paid €565,000 by the record company. He was like a control freak. The best laugh I had with Tam was

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when he got an electric shock at the Edinburgh Palais one night and it knocked him off the stage.” Paton was jailed in 1982 for sex attacks on two young boys. He died in 2009.

His fall from grace was far from the only controversy around the Rollers.

Les Mckeown, who joined in late 1973, just before Rollermania took off, was probably the band’s biggest heartthrob.

In 1975, he was driving in Edinburgh when he hit 76-year-old Euphemia Clunie and killed her. He was later found guilty of reckless driving, fined and banned from driving for a year.

He was with the band until 1978, when he got a letter from the other members which said:“f*** you, you’re fired.”

It is claimed Les abused drink and drugs, including cocaine and heroin. He later had his home repossessed.

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