The Proclaimers

The Proclaimers are a Scottish rock duo formed in 1983 by the twin brothers Craig and Charlie Reid (born 5 March 1962). They came to attention with their 1987 single "Letter from America", which reached No. 3 in the United Kingdom, and the 1988 single "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)", which topped the charts in Australia, Iceland and New Zealand. The duo's biggest album, Sunshine on Leith (1988) has been certified multi-Platinum in Australia and Canada, selling over two million copies worldwide, including around 700,000 in the United States. The Proclaimers have sold over five million albums worldwide.

First active from 1983 as an acoustic duo, the Proclaimers moved toward band-oriented rock in later works. The Proclaimers' style draws from a diversity of influences, including country, folk and punk rock. Their playing range has included roots rock, alternative rock and folk rock, and their music is typified by their Scottish accents. The Proclaimers often tour internationally and have released 12 studio albums since 1987, the most recent being 2022's Dentures Out, as well as three compilation albums and a DVD.

Craig and Charles Reid were born identical twins in Leith on 5 March 1962 and grew up in Edinburgh, Cornwall and Auchtermuchty. When they lived in Auchtermuchty, they attended Bell Baxter High School.

Alluding to the early careers of Craig and Charles Reid in 1989, Bill Wyman of Chicago Reader commented that the pair "got into music through punk". After Craig received a beaten-up drum kit and Charlie a guitar, the pair played in several punk rock bands. The first of which was called the Hippy Hasslers, the name of which was borne out of the brothers' dislike of hippie counterculture, with Craig Reid commenting in 2005 "we loathed anybody with long hair, we hated Deep Purple". Their next band was called Black Flag; the group were unaware of the like-named American punk band at the time. The brothers were also members of a band called Reasons for Emotion alongside Kai Davidson, later of hardcore punk band the Cateran and an early manager for the Proclaimers. The group split up in 1981. Craig Reid, in a 2016 interview with Esquire Middle East, relayed that he loved punk acts such as The Clash, The Jam, the Sex Pistols, as well as "all the mid-60s stuff… The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Kinks".

Becoming aware of the potential of playing as a duo, the Reids established the Proclaimers as an acoustic duo in 1983. Discussing their early sound, actor Peter Mullan said that the Proclaimers played "a mix of post-punk and folk". During this time, the duo attracted a regional fan-base, with Inverness having an especially dedicated community of supporters. Many of the duo's songs, such as "Letter from America" which was written in 1984 and reflected unemployment rates of the day, were written in this period.

The Proclaimers recorded a demo album with the assistance of Kevin Rowland of Dexys Midnight Runners.^[when?] The demo fell into the hands of English indie pop band the Housemartins, who invited the Proclaimers to support them on their 1986 tour. First opening at the Hummingbird in Birmingham, the tour afforded the duo the opportunity to perform on Channel 4 pop programme The Tube in January 1987, and Chrysalis Records quickly signed the pair.

In 1987, the duo's John Williams-produced debut record This Is the Story was released through Chrysalis, and displayed a minimalist sound lauded by Timothy Monger as "sparse but spirited". For release as a single, the album-track "Letter from America" was remixed by Gerry Rafferty, embellishing the song with a full-band sound. The single peaked at No. 3 in the UK Singles Chart, as the duo appeared on Top of the Pops for the first time on 12 December 1987, while the album This Is the Story went gold. On their 1987 breakthrough, Neil McCormick of The Telegraph opined that the pair "stuck out like a pair of sore thumbs" amidst the "ersatz glamour of Eighties pop".

The 1988 follow-up album, Sunshine on Leith, featured a rock-driven sound as the Proclaimers worked with a band for the first time. Ranging in lyrical-themes from familial joy to Scottish nationalism, the record featured the singles "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)", which went to number one in Australia and New Zealand, and "I'm on My Way". The album was a particularly big hit in Australia in 1989, being that year's 12th biggest-seller, reaching No. 2, and attaining a 2× multi-platinum certification by the ARIA. Craig Reid described this success as their "biggest ever". Attaining certifications of 2× multi-platinum in Canada, at the time of June 2009 Sunshine on Leith had sold a worldwide total of 2 million copies. The album was a critical success, with Rolling Stone in May 1989 lauding it "a wonderfully guileless treasure of an album".