Derek Longmuir

Derek Longmuir
Longmuir in 1976
Background information
Born	(1951-03-19) 19 March 1951 (age 73) Edinburgh, Scotland
Genres	Rock, pop
Occupation(s)	Drummer, nurse
Instrument	Drums
Years active	1964–1983
Formerly of	Bay City Rollers

Derek Longmuir (born 19 March 1951, Edinburgh, Scotland) is a Scottish former drummer and a founding member of the pop group Bay City Rollers. His elder brother Alan Longmuir played bass guitar in the group.

He formed his first band at age 13 in 1964, with his brother Alan. Their name eventually changed to Bay City Rollers after throwing a darts at a map of the United States, and the dart landing near Bay City, Michigan.^[1] After signing to a record company in 1971, the Rollers would become one of the biggest acts of the 1970s.

In the UK during the 1970s, the Bay City Rollers went number one twice, and had 6 records Certified silver and 2 Certified gold.^[2] He appeared on each of the band's nine studio albums through to 1981.^{[citation needed]} He decided to leave the Bay City Rollers during a tour in Japan in 1982.^[3] Derek had left by 1983.

Longmuir was born to Duncan and Georgina Longmuir.^[4] His father, Duncan was an undertaker.^[4] Derek and his older brother Alan Longmuir both went to Tynecastle High School, and left school at age fifteen^[3] in 1966.^[4] He had two sisters, Betty and Alice.^[4]

He retired from the music industry in the early 1980s and trained as a nurse working at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary in 1993.^[5] He would regularly volunteer at children's hospitals. Derek had spent some time working in Portugal with the red cross.^[3] When Alan Longmuir suffered a heart attack in 1995, Derek was one of the nurses who helped him recover.^[6]

In 1991, Longmuir was in a relationship with Janice Green, who was also the person to convince Derek to take nursing as a profession.^[7]

Throughout the 2000s, Longmuir and several other members of the band were in court trying to receive unpaid royalties.^[8][9][10]

In 2000, Longmuir was sentenced to 300 hours of community service after admitting to possessing child pornography.^[11] Despite his guilty plea, he maintained that the offending materials did not belong to him but were left behind by an acquaintance. Longmuir said he pleaded guilty in hope of avoiding a "media circus".^[12] Despite his conviction and initially being suspended from working as a nurse,^[13] the conduct committee of the United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing Midwifery and Health Visiting (UKCC) decided to give him a caution and allowed him to continue working as a nurse.^[12][14]

In an interview in the Sunday Herald on 7 May 2000, Longmuir's foster son, Jorge Loureiro, said that Longmuir was innocent and had been framed by an obsessed American fan he had befriended, with discs having been sent to his home anonymously days before he was arrested.^[15]

As a result of the arrest, Longmuir was absent from reunion concerts featuring Les McKeown, Alan Longmuir, Eric Faulkner, and Stuart Wood.^[16]

• Stambler, Irwin, Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock & Soul. 1974. St. Martin's Press, Inc., New York, N.Y. ISBN 0-312-25025-8.