ARTIST ROSTER:
| Ian Mitchell's Bay City Rollers |
| Ian Mitchell: Guitar/Vocals, Eric Crabb: Lead Vocals, Lee Brovitrz: Bass/Vocals, Michael Campbell: Drums/Vocals, Benjy King: Keyboards/Vocals |
Bringing back the joys of yesteryear, the Bay City Rollers featuring Ian Mitchell takes a crowd away to the most important time of their life … youth.
As popular as nostalgia is, the Bay City Rollers featuring Ian Mitchell finds their audience throughout the generations. The delight can be heard when a familiar top 40 tune is recognized and a smile is brought to every face when a well-known AM radio classic is played.
With Ian Mitchell, an original member from Britain's top pop sensation, the Bay City Rollers, this band has the opportunity to bring to life the mayhem that was indeed a "mania" and entertain the crowds with a mixture of Pop and Rock with songs from history's best era in music.
Throughout his career, Ian Mitchell has brought joy and happiness to untold millions. His musical and show business achievements are astounding. Ian was thrust into stardom at the age of 17 as vocalist and guitarist of 1970's musical phenomena known as the BAY CITY ROLLERS. Nothing like the Rollers had emerged since the Beatles, and nothing has emerged like them since. The level of hysteria aroused in their fans was incredible. Worldwide, Bay City Rollers concerts routinely became riots. According to England's New Musica1 Express, the Rollers were a "cult of vast proportions." Something like one in four youths was a Bay City Rollers fan and they sold records by the millions. The Bay City Rollers are still one of Arista Records biggest selling artists, with 13 gold singles to their credit.
In 1975, Arista president Clive Davis used his intuition and selected an album cut he thought would sell in America. The Rollers and Arista were aided with top-notch promotion. The quintet appeared live on the premier of ABC- TV's "Saturday Night Live With Howard Cosell." Davis' intuition was correct. The album cut, "Saturday Night," was their first U.S. chart topper. More hits followed: "I Only Want To Be With You," "Rock n' Roll Love Letter," "The Way I Feel Tonight," "Money Honey," and "You Made Me Believe In Magic" were all Top 40 smashes.
The Bay City Rollers soon had die hard tartan-clad devotees in the U.S. just like they did in the rest of the world. They performed on all the major television programs of the day, and were even hosts of their own NBC-TV series, which is now being shown in syndication.
The Rollers appeared on the cover of 16 Magazine more times than any other artist or celebrity. British rocker Nick Lowe wrote and recorded a catchy tune called "Rollers Show," which expressed the happiness in anticipation of a Bay City Rollers concert. Maddening Rollermania became the rule wherever the band appeared. Teenage girls routinely screamed until they fainted at Rollers' concerts.
When his career with the Bay City Rollers concluded, it was followed by performing with a short lived band, ROSETTA STONE, that would gain notoriety in Canada, Europe and the Far East, eventually accumulating two gold disks and his own variety show with the BBC-London. Additionally, THE IAN MITCHELL BAND" had Japan and UK success in the 1980's before it’s demise. He then continued performing Bay City Roller's hits throughout the world at concerts, nightclubs, casinos, fairs and festivals, including a reunion tour with the Rollers in 1985 in Europe and the Far East.
Ian continues to make new fans with his non-stop combination of hits, both new and old, featuring some of the most powerful back-up bands on the road, but has consistently kept a worldwide following of original Bay City Roller fans, and still receives fan mail daily.
The success of the Rollers proved that Rollermania is still alive and well. The Ian Mitchell Message Board is one of the most popular boards on Voy.com and numerous Roller sites exist on the Internet. The Hasbro Board game, "Trivial Pursuit" includes a Bay City Roller quiz question, Comedian Craig Ferguson chose to use a BCR doll as a prop throughout the comedy, "The Big Tease", and Mike Myers landed the band in his film, "So, I Married an Ax Murderer. Planter’s Peanuts put to use; Saturday Night in a nation-wide television advertisement and the hit song was even included in the movies, "Heavyweights", and "Spirit Of '76."
The Campbell's Soup Company utilized the Bay City Rollers version of "I Only Wanna Be With You" for a V8 Juice commercial, released world-wide. The popular sitcom "That 70’s Show" often uses images as well as recordings of the BCR, while VH1 covered an episode of "Where Are They Now" that featured Ian. He was even mentioned by name in an episode of the NBC hit sitcom, "Friends." The Rollers were also given a mention in the movie, "Love Actually," while their #1 UK song "Bye Bye Baby" was included in the film’s on-screen soundtrack. And just recently, Touchstone Pictures included the song "Money Honey" during the promotion of their new hit movie, "The Ladykillers" starring Academy Award winner, Tom Hanks.
Ian has also taken his music on the road as a Motivational/Inspirational Speaker. He has spoken at some of the worlds top corporations as well as volunteered his message to several non profit organizations.
Moving into the millennium, Ian's ambition is to provide the world with excitement as he performs the pop hits of the Bay City Rollers as well as other 70's artists. He wants to make every night, a SATURDAY NIGHT.
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