Bay City Rollers guitarist Neil Henderson dies at 73

Neil Henderson, the Glasgow-born guitarist who played on the Bay City Rollers' first charting single before leaving the band two years ahead of its global breakthrough, has died at 73 after a long period of ill health.

The death was announced by his former bandmates in Middle of the Road, the Scottish group he joined after leaving the Rollers, in a statement posted on Facebook. Henderson had been ill for some time and was fighting to recover from a stroke he suffered a few years ago, the statement said. It did not say when or where he died.

He is survived by two daughters, Heather and Shona, to whom his former bandmates sent their condolences. The stroke, suffered several years ago, had left him in declining health, GB News reported.

Two years with the Rollers

Henderson joined the Bay City Rollers in 1970 and remained for two years, until 1972, as lead guitarist. The band had been playing since the mid-1960s and had not yet charted, and it would spend the first half of the decade working towards the breakthrough that arrived in 1974, LBC reported.

He performed on Keep On Dancing, the band's first charting single. The record charted in 1971 and marked the group's initial breakthrough, according to GB News, which described Henderson as lead guitarist and songwriter for two of Scotland's most prominent pop acts of the 1970s.

He left shortly after the band's second single was released, his daughter Shona said, because he was dissatisfied with the direction the group's music was taking. The timing put him outside the line-up just before the phenomenon known as Rollermania transformed the Rollers into global stars.

The success he missed

The Rollers' debut album, Rollin', was released in 1974 and went straight to the top of the UK Album Charts. It accumulated a total of 58 weeks on the chart, a run GB News said Henderson narrowly missed out on sharing.

The band's mainstream breakthrough came that year, after a run of singles that failed to dent the charts, LBC reported. Tartan outfits and upbeat pop tunes built a teen following at home and abroad, and LBC put the group's record sales at more than 100 million, with hits including Bye Bye Baby and Shang-a-Lang. In the press they were heralded as the "biggest group since the Beatles".

By the time Rollin' topped the album chart, Henderson had been gone from the band for two years.

Les McKeown, the frontman through the group's peak, died in 2021 at 65, and the bassist Alan Longmuir died in the summer of 2018 at 70. McKeown, Longmuir and Stuart Wood reunited for a comeback tour in 2015, and the tickets sold out.

Middle of the Road years

Middle of the Road had already reached No 1 with Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep, a hit from 1971, by the time Henderson joined. He took the lead guitarist's role from 1974 onwards, GB News reported, and worked as a songwriter for the group as well as playing on its records.

Among the tracks he penned and co-wrote for the group were Everybody Loves A Winner and Rockin Soul.

We are sorry to have to announce the death of Neil Henderson, our original lead guitarist, songwriter and friend. Neil had been ill for some time and was fighting to recover from a stroke a few years ago.

The post said his memory would live on with everyone who had shared a stage with him, as would his music.

Announced by his old band

Middle of the Road posted the news on its Facebook page on September 24.

The statement gave no cause of death, no date of death and no funeral arrangements.

A home studio in Scotland

After the death of his daughters' mother, Henderson built a recording studio at his home in the west of Scotland, Shona said, knowing that he could finally "get away with it".

Music remained a lifelong passion for him.

Two bands, two chart peaks

Both of the groups Henderson played with had their biggest chart moments without him. Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep reached No 1 in 1971, three years before he became Middle of the Road's lead guitarist, and Rollin' topped the album chart in 1974, two years after he left the Rollers.

A commenter who said they had been the group's tour driver recalled Henderson's arrival, in remarks quoted by GB News.

During the '73 Middle of the Road, West & East European tour, Neil was introduced as the fifth member of the Middle of the Road group. I was the groups tour driver & had some great chats with him.

Henderson's recorded presence with the Rollers comes down to their first charting single. He played on Keep On Dancing and was out of the line-up within two years, before the tartan outfits and the teen following, and before the album that spent 58 weeks on the UK chart.

Fans posted their own recollections beneath the announcement, some from people who had met Henderson only briefly, decades ago, and who remembered a young guitarist rather than a veteran of two well-known bands.

I remember him well even though it was a long time ago, we chatted a lot about the band and how much younger he was. It's strange and sad for me to see the demise of that lovely young guitarist.

Middle of the Road's statement closed with condolences to Heather and Shona, his two daughters, and to all his family and friends.