Their most popular songs included These are My Mountains and Two Highland Lads, but the Alexander Brothers honed their craft far from the bens and glens, singing away while slapping paint on walls in the Motherwell area, where they grew up and trained as painters and decorators. And although they were to cultivate a worldwide audience over many decades with their package of traditional Scottish music, kilts and kitsch, their musical career began with more classical fare.
Thomas Armit Alexander was born in Cambusnethan, Wishaw, in 1934. His brother Jack was born the following year. Their father worked in a steel mill. Their mother was the musical one in the family. She sang and played piano and encouraged her children to sing and play