Subject:  Who's a bad boy..Not our Leslie? |
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Date Posted: 22:26:03 01/27/09 Tue
Bay City Roller Les McKeown comes to North Shields
27 January 2009
By TEGAN CHAPMAN
Entertainment Editor
DUST off your bell bottoms, as the original frontman of the Bay City Rollers is coming to North Shields next week for a one-off show.
Entertainment editor TEGAN CHAPMAN grabbed a quick word with the star ahead of his whistle-stop visit to the region.
By his own admission, 70s pop star Les McKeown is a bit of a bad boy.
With a string of addictions, a court appearance for drug charges, and headline grabbing tales of money owed but never received, the Bay City Roller has been through a tough time in the last 30 years, but is proud to have come out the other side a better man.
The 53-year-old tartan warrior is refusing to duck out of the limelight, but is swapping the stadium tours for intimate gigs, playing shows where big musicians often fear to tread.
"Everyone goes to the larger cities, but I wanted to go to places where no one plays – like North Shields – we are trying something different," he said.
Playing North Shields may be a far cry from the heyday of Rollermania, when the band sold over 120 million records, but Les, who will bring Les McKeown's Legendary Bay City Rollers to the Percy Park Rugby Club on Friday, February 6, said the smaller gigs are a great chance to get close to his audience.
"The smaller gigs are often sell-outs and are brilliant to play," he said.
"If I had my way we will be in the north east a lot this year."
Having battled with alcohol and drug addictions, Edinburgh-born McKeown is now back on his feet and clean after a life-changing stint in a Malibu rehab centre.
"I had to hit rock bottom before I could come up," he said.
"It was something I sort of knew I had to do.
"I have been a bit of a bad boy with alcohol and things and I had to go to rehab in Malibu to get off that," he said.
Now Les' stint in rehab is being made into a TV show – Rehab – for Living TV which will be aired in February, where he and five other celebrities battle their various addictions.
"It isn't car crash TV, it is more about the process of rehabilitation – all my tears and emotions will be out there for all to see.
"It was very traumatic, but now I feel a big weight has been lifted off me –I am free of all these things, the life I had led has gone.
"I am glad it got so bad because it led me to Malibu, and that has really changed my life.
"Life is too valuable to waste, and my life is now 360 degrees the other way around – I eat healthy foods, I take my supplements, I go to the gym, and I'm finding it quite interesting to walk around and discover places near where I live that I never knew existed."
Despite his new life, there are no plans for a Bay City Rollers tour.
The group, who made an estimated £5billion but claim they never saw it, are in a legal battle about royalties, but are still a long way off being the best of friends.
"We argued over who was better looking," he jokes, "But we never really got past all that."
As for next week's sold-out gig at Percy Park, the fans can expect all the classic songs from Les and his band.
"Of course there will be Shang-A-Lang and Bye Bye Baby.
"Just don't expect pyrotechnics!" he laughs.
"It will be a lively show to take us back to the 1970s, all the songs you would expect, just with a bit of edge to bring then up to date."
A band from Whitley Bay High School, The Plimps, will be supporting Les Mckeown's Legendary Bay City Rollers next week.
For a chance to win a pair of tickets to the sold-out North Shields gig, simply email tegan.chapman@northeast-press.co.uk with your name, address, telephone number and why you think you should win them, by Wednesday, February 4.
For more information on Les, visit www.lesmckeown.com
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