Late Bay City Roller Alan Longmuir lifts lid on alcohol battle in new book

Bay City Rollers star Alan Longmuir has revealed how the band's financial woes nearly cost him his life.
The late Alan Longmuir co-founded The Bay City Rollers. Picture: Greg MacveanThe late Alan Longmuir co-founded The Bay City Rollers. Picture: Greg Macvean
The late Alan Longmuir co-founded The Bay City Rollers. Picture: Greg Macvean

The late musician has lifted on the lid on his long-running battles with alcoholism and depression in his autobiography, which is about to be published five months after his death.

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Longmuir spent years with former bandmates trying to recoup millions of missing royalties from worldwide record sales of more than 120 million.

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He recalls how he was even left homeless at one point after being forced to sell his house in Dollar, in Clackmannanshire, the break-up of his first marriage and the sell-off of a hotel they had been running.

In the book, written with Martin Knight, Longmuir recalls: “I was rootless now. I stayed in friends’ rooms. Today they call it sofa surfing which puts a jocular spin on what is a miserable and humiliating existence. I eventually settled in a flat above the Dollar Arms, which was not ideal, and you don’t have to imagine too hard where most of my time was spent.”

Longmuir said he managed to turn his life around after meeting Eileen, his second wife in 1994.

He said: “I don’t just believe, I know, that if I hadn’t met Eileen when I did I’d not be here now. I was drinking myself into a premature grave, had lost self confidence and self-esteem and had not a penny to my name.”