Alan Longmuir

I will always be thankful to Alan Longmuir of the Bay City Rollers. He was never my favorite and I didn’t even really like the Rollers. I am thankful for him because he’s the reason for Ian Mitchell (my love). Alan quit the band which gave my Ian the opportunity to come into my life. Okay, I’m not really delusion. Ian is not mine and he’s not in my life. I just had a huge crush on him when I was a youngster. Back to Alan….

Alan Longmuir was born on June 20, 1948 in Edinburgh, Scotland. His parents, Duncan and Georgina, encouraged music with all four of their children (Alan, Derek, Betty, and Alice). Alan and his younger brother Derek went to Tynecastle High School, but Alan left when he was just 15. He started learning to be a plumber.  That turned out to be just a side job to his music.

The Rollers

Alan started the group that would become The Bay City Rollers in 1964. The original line-up consisted of Alan and his brother Derek, cousin Neil Porteous, Nobby Clark, and Dave Pettigrew. The main group that hit it big were Alan and his brother Derek, Eric Faulkner, Stuart Wood, and Les McKeown. That group got their big break when Alan asked Tam Paton for help. The Rollers success was due in large part to Alan. In 1975, they were considered the biggest sensation since the Beatles and of the groups who have followed, only One Direction has gotten a similar reaction from the fans.

I always thought that Alan chose to leave the group, but I guess he was fired because he was “too old and too hard to control”. Ummm….wasn’t it his band? How does one get fired from their own band? Alan mentioned that he had a fallout with manager Tam Paton because he wanted to get a life.

Sadly, Alan Longmuir passed away at age 70 after contracting a virus while vacationing in Mexico. He died on July 2, 2018.

Trivia

• Alan was married from 1985-1990 to a woman named Jan.
• He has a son, Jordan James, from that marriage to Jan.
• Alan married Eileen Rankin in 1998 and remained married until his death.
• He has two stepsons, Kyle and Nik.
• He released a single called I’m Confessing after he left the Bay City Rollers in 1976.
• Alan was inspired to become a pop star when he saw Jailhouse Rock as a young boy.

 

Said by his family after his death: “He was an extraordinary man with an extraordinary heart. He brought so much love and kindness to everyone he met and he leaves a huge hole in our family. He would humbly say he was, ‘just a plumber from Edinburgh who got lucky.’ However, we are the lucky ones; the ones that were lucky enough to have Alan as part of our lives.”