The band split up in the mid-1980s, but enjoyed an unexpected revival in 1993 when "Young at Heart" was used in a Volkswagen television advertisement.[3] Re-issued as a single, it was number one for four weeks and led to the band reforming temporarily to perform the song on BBC Television's Top of the Pops.[3] A compilation album followed, The Singles Collection, which peaked at No. 27 on the UK Albums Chart in April 1993.[4]
The band reformed in late 2008, with original members the McCluskey brothers and Bobby Bluebell, to support Edwyn Collins at a show in Glasgow on 23 January 2009. On 29 May 2011, the band performed as part of the Southside Festival. On 17 December 2018, the band performed on a Christmas edition of The Quay Sessions for BBC Scotland. In 2019, the Bluebells appeared performing "Young at Heart" in an episode of the last series of the BBC Scotland sitcom Still Game.[5]
The band released In the 21st Century, an album of new material in 2023.[6]
Post-Bluebells
Prior to achieving chart success, bass player Lawrence Donegan left the band to join Lloyd Cole and the Commotions and then later trained as a journalist and is now a golf correspondent for The Guardian, having previously worked at The Scotsman. The other members of the band stayed in the music business after the split – David McCluskey and his brother, Ken, formed a folk duo, the McCluskey Brothers. Ken also works as a lecturer at Glasgow Kelvin College teaching music business, and David uses music therapeutically with a wide variety of people. Robert Hodgens has worked as a professional songwriter and formed a new group called The Poems, signed to the American label Minty Fresh.
Band members
Bobby Bluebell (born Robert Anthony Hodgens, 6 June 1959, Scotland) – guitar
