The Procalimers

When the Scottish duo of Craig and Charlie Reid emerged in 1987, they were immediately compared to the Everly Brothers. Considering their energetic, melodic folk-rock, the comparison made some sense, even though the Proclaimers didn’t really sound like the Everlys. Instead, the band was a post-punk pop band, aggressively displaying their thick accents on sweet, infectiously melodic songs about love, politics, and life in Scotland.

Craig Reid and Charlie Reid were born in Leith in 1962, and grew up in Edinburgh, Cornwall and Auchtermuchty. When they stayed in Auchtermuchty they attended Bell Baxter High School. After several punk rock bands at school they formed The Proclaimers in 1983.

The pair came to public attention when an Inverness based fan sent their demo to the British band The Housemartins, who were impressed enough to invite The Proclaimers on their 1986 UK tour. The exposure of the tour won them a January 1987 appearance on the British pop music television programme The Tube on Channel Four; «Letter from America» peaked at number 3 in the UK Singles Chart, whilst the album This is the Story went gold. The follow-up album Sunshine on Leith featured «I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)» and «I’m On My Way». They had a hit with their EP King of the Road, which reached number 9 in UK in 1990.

After two albums in the late ’80s (This Is the Story [1987], Sunshine on Leith [1988]), the band disappeared for several years, suffering from personal problems and severe writer’s block. When their 1988 song «I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)» was used in the 1993 film Benny & Joon, the Proclaimers began to receive massive radio airplay in America, sending them into the Top Ten in the U.S., as well as the rest of the world; it was their first taste of real success. Luckily, they were close to completing their third album at the time, Hit the Highway, leaving them in a position to capitalize on their success.

They made various contributions to several movie soundtracks — Dumb & Dumber and Bottle Rocket — during the latter part of the decade, but family matters took priority.

The new millennium led to a much more fresh-sounding Proclaimers. It was a return to form — singing about the grime and glory of their native Scotland — but also a sign of the prime of life. The band’s fifth effort, Born Innocent, appeared on their own imprint, Persevere, in 2003. It was followed by Restless Soul in 2005, Life with You in 2007, and Notes & Rhymes in 2009.

In March 2007 they recorded a new version of «I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)» with television comedy characters Andy Pipkin (played by Matt Lucas) and Brian Potter (Peter Kay) for the Comic Relief charity. A long list of celebrities were featured in the music video for this new version, including David Bellamy, Rod, Jane and Freddy, Paul O’Grady, David Tennant, Frank Sidebottom and many more. This new version of the song reached number 1 in the UK Singles Chart.

The ninth studio outing from the bespectacled Scottish brothers, 2012’s Like Comedy, coincided with the 25th anniversary of their 1987 debut.

On 16 May 2006 the twins announced their participation in a campaign to free a fellow Scot, Kenny Richey, from his death row sentence in Ohio, including an appearance at a charity concert.[6] Also, in 2010 they participated with Billy Bragg in a show supporting Reprieve, a charity that seeks to end the use of the death penalty.

The Proclaimers also support other charities such as The Lighthouse Foundation (addiction victims), AICR (cancer research), Drake Music Scotland (help disabled people through music) and 500 miles (amputees or disabled people in Africa).