Leslie McKeown

Artist: Leslie McKeown

LP: 7" single

Song: "Shall I Do It (One More Number One)"

[ listen ]

About a block away from Used Kids Records in Columbus I found Johnny Go's House O' Music, a messy little store that feels more like a pawn shop than a record store (lots of beat-up LP covers and bent 7" picture sleeves, for one thing). But, just like in a pawn shop, I figured if I dug around long enough I'd probably find something interesting. One of the few things I found at Johnny Go's is this 1979 German-made single from Leslie McKeown, former lead vocalist for The Bay City Rollers. I just now learned that Les also contributed backing vocals to one the most influential albums of my youth—"Filigree & Shadow" by This Mortal Coil. You can read about the life and career of Leslie McKeown on Wikipedia here, and if you want to read about McKeown's shocking 2009 televised confession that he'd been living a secret gay life for the past 30 years, you can do so here. All I can say is that anyone who's ever laid eyes on the "Shall I Do It" picture sleeve and was still somehow shocked by McKeown's revelation, well...duh. They've really only got themselves to blame.

 [ Leslie McKeown, secretly gay. ]

 [ Leslie McKeown (right) in Hawaii in 1978, with no secrets at all. ]

 [ Johnny Go's House O' Music — Columbus, OH]