- Title: Who Got The Bay City Rollers' Millions
- Date: 8th June 2004
- Summary: In the 1970s The Bay City Rollers, five teenagers from Scotland, became the biggest band in the world. They sold over 120 million records, and topped the charts in every record-selling country in the world, generating an industry worth over £5 billion in today's money. Yet by 1979, the band were penniless, victims of one of the greatest rock'n'roll rip-offs of all time. Today, lead singer Les McKeown lives in a small flat in London's East End. "Probably I should have ten, 15, £20 millions," he says. So if he and the other band members were so royally ripped off, who made all the money? In this astonishing film, the outrageous deceptions to which the young band were subjected are revealed, as Les goes on a mission to discover who made what out of the exploitation of the Bay City Rollers. Also featuring contributions from former Rollers Stuart 'Woody' Wood and Alan Longmuir, the climax of the film involves Les meeting the band's former manager face-to-face in his luxury home, and an ironic twist involving the record company that hasn't paid them any royalties for 25 years. The Bay City Rollers' manager was Tam Paton - a man who lives today in splendid isolation outside Edinburgh, protected by security cameras, barbed wire fences, security guards and high, spiked gates. "I don't have any doubt that the band was ripped off," he says. "I certainly didn't rip them off." But songwriter Bill Martin suggests: "I think that Tam should be shot, the way he managed them really. Disgraceful." Whoever did rip them off has caused a great deal of heartache. Les had to sell the house he'd bought for his parents, and move them back into a council home. "It was devastating," he remembers. Alan, the bassist, puts down his two heart attacks and a minor stroke to the stress his financial situation has caused him. Yet still the band are without a slice of the pie. As Sir Jimmy Saville says: "By now, all the lads should be living in big houses on big Scottish estates, but I'd be surprised if they are, because in our business, for everybody that makes a fortune, there's always a dozen people waiting in the wings to take it off them." At the root of the problem is the naivety of the boys when they were at their most successful. They handed over control of their money to their manager, lawyers and accountants and left the people in charge to sort out their money. It was placed in overseas accounts ostensibly to limit tax payments, but now the band can't trace the money. In 1979 they subsequently sued their accountants, but had to settle out of court when they ran out of money to pay their lawyers. Each band member settled for less than £30,000. Somebody got the millions, but it wasn't Les McKeown or the Rollers. Since 1979 the Rollers cash cow has continued to provide millions of pounds, though not for the band. There are still 80 albums and compilations on sale featuring songs by the Rollers, not to mention television and radio airplay and other royalties. Yet the band has not been paid a penny by its record label, Arista, in 25 years. The company claims that the money is being withheld in a non-interest accruing account until the band resolves its internal wrangles (the band once fell out so badly they fought onstage in Japan). But the band members, desperate for the money they are owed and unconvinced by this argument, are considering suing the company. Finally, after doing some research into Tam Paton's companies, Les is ready to confront his ex-manager. It's the first time the two have spoken in 16 years, since an occasion that Les believes Tam used to warn him off by threatening his parents and setting his dogs on his father. For his part, Tam says the band never had any musical talent, and he wants nothing more to do with them. The stage is set for an explosive confrontation. And that's before the record company come forward with an offer that could turn everything on its head...
- Description:300 million records and not a penny,the story of the sex,drink,drugs,feuds and pedophilia behind the ultimate boy band.
- Broadcaster:Channel 4
- Collection: Channel 4
- Genre:Documentary and Factual
- Producer:Carlton Television Ltd. (London)
- Programme Episode:Episode 1
- Transmission Date:08/06/2004
- Rights:Worldwide
- Decade: 2000s