Editing Bay City Rollers (section)

===Early days and formation: 1964–1971===
In 1964, a trio called the Ambassadors was formed in Edinburgh, Scotland, by 16-year-old [[Alan Longmuir]] on acoustic guitar, his younger brother [[Derek Longmuir]] on drums, and their older cousin Neil Porteous on acoustic guitar. The group never performed publicly under this name,<ref name=Spence2016>{{cite book |last1=Spence |first1=Simon |title=When The Screaming Stops: The Dark History of the Bay City Rollers |date=2016 |publisher=[[Omnibus Press]] |isbn=9781783237050 |pages=33–35 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=66A2DQAAQBAJ&pg=PT33}}</ref> just a family wedding where they covered "[[Wake Up Little Susie]]". They changed their name to the Saxons, and Derek invited a friend from school, Gordon "Nobby" Clark, to be the lead singer. Porteous moved from acoustic to electric guitar, and Alan Longmuir followed suit by changing to electric bass.<ref name=Coy2005>Coy, W. (2005), ''Bay City Babylon: The Unbelievable But True Story of the Bay City Rollers'', pp 12–13. Hats Off Books, {{ISBN|978-1587364631}}</ref> The Saxons played occasional dance hall concerts while the band members completed their schooling or worked during the day (Alan apprenticed as a plumber). Porteous left the band in July 1965, with new guitarist Dave Pettigrew filling the spot after answering an advertisement placed by the band in an Edinburgh newspaper. Pettigrew was more advanced musically than the others, and pushed the band to improve. Their repertoire included American R&B/pop songs such as "[[Please Mr. Postman]]" and "[[Heat Wave (Martha and the Vandellas song)|Heat Wave]]". They played at least one gig at the Gonk Club as the Deadbeats, but they discovered a conflict: Another band was playing locally as Rock Bottom and the Deadbeats.<ref name=Spence2016/>

While taking a technical class at Napier College, Alan met fellow plumbing student Gregory Ellison, who joined the Saxons on electric guitar, with Pettigrew shifting to keyboards. Gregory's older brother Mike joined as a second lead singer, allowing more complex harmonies, especially useful for the Motown songs they liked to perform. The band convinced [[Tam Paton]], a former [[big band]] leader<ref>{{cite web|last=Finney|first=Ritchie|title=Tam Paton Spills The Heinz Baked Beans!|url=http://www.spencemusic.co.uk/bilbomusic/articles/Tam/spilledbeans.htm|work=Bilbo Baggins Home Page|publisher=Morley Enterprises|access-date=31 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160910180745/http://www.spencemusic.co.uk/bilbomusic/articles/Tam/spilledbeans.htm|archive-date=10 September 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> and influential local band and club manager, to audition them at the Longmuirs' house. Paton booked them for a Thursday night at his club, the Palais, then assigned them to open for the Hipple People at Top Storey. More gigs followed.<ref name=Spence2016/>

More successful now, the Saxons moved out of the Longmuirs' back room to practice in Hermiston at a church. They played a couple of contemporary [[The Kinks|Kinks]] numbers but favored American songs, including a new one: "[[See See Rider|C.C. Rider]]" by [[Mitch Ryder]] and the Detroit Wheels. Desiring a better name for the band, they settled on "Rollers", but needed a more powerful American-sounding term in front of that. Derek Longmuir threw a dart at a map of the United States, landing first on Arkansas. This did not meet anyone's approval, so a second dart was thrown. It landed near [[Bay City, Michigan]]. The band agreed on the name, the Bay City Rollers.<ref name="The Great Rock Discography">{{cite book
| first= Martin C.
| last= Strong
| year= 2000
| title= The Great Rock Discography
| edition= 5th
| publisher= [[Mojo Books]]
| location= Edinburgh
| pages= 2–3
| isbn= 1-84195-017-3}}</ref> Short-term members from this period included bassist [[David Paton]] (from 1969 to 1970) and keyboardist [[Billy Lyall]] (1969–71), who went on to be founding members of another Edinburgh band [[Pilot (Scottish band)|Pilot]].