Remembering when Roller mania swept across Arran
Nobby Clark, the original singer and a founder member of the Bay City Rollers, has released a single in homage to Arran.
Arran (Run Like The Wind) is a ballad inspired by the happy memories he has of the times when he and the band played on Arran.
Nobby, who is now 70, sang on all of the early hits including Keep on Dancing, We Can Make Music, Manana, Because I Love You, Remember (Sha La La) and Saturday Night, but he parted ways with the band in 1973, before they went on to global success.
Nobby takes up the story: ‘In the last few years, we lost so many members of The Bay City Rollers through illness: Archie Marr, who was the keyboard player when we had the first hit record with Keep on Dancing in 1971 and performed on Top Of the Pops for the first time.
‘Then Ian Mitchell, who replaced Alan Longmuir, when he left the band for a long break. I lost a very close friend when Alan Longmuir died and then of course in recent times Les Mckeown, who died in April.
‘The renewed interest in the history of The Bay City Rollers has given me the chance to look back over the great times we had as young guys on an adventure that took us all over the country from town to town building up what became a huge fan following before we made any records or television appearances.
‘A lot of people think that The Bay City Rollers were a manufactured overnight success but that is not the case.
‘We were a working band on the road for many years before breaking through into the London music business.
‘I tell the true story of The Bay City Rollers and the missing millions in my autobiography The Lost Roller by Nobby Clark, available on Amazon.
‘One of my most treasured memories was playing on Arran during the Glasgow Fair in the summer holidays when crowds of people would flock to the island including hundreds of Roller fans.
‘I remember it as being such a happy time and something we looked forward to each year.
‘I fell in love with Arran and have been returning to the island in recent years with my family staying in a quaint old cottage in Kildonan.
‘I’ve met many musicians and residents of the island who remember The Bay City Rollers coming to play on Arran during the Glasgow Fair and these memories combined with the wonderful times we’ve had on the island in recent years, inspired me to write a song called Arran (Run Like The Wind ) which I’ve released as a single and is available on bandcamp.com for download and can be found on facebook/nobbyclark.’