Early lives 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.
Pre-Proclaimers (1970s–1982) 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 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. During this time, the duo attracted a regional fan-base, with
Inverness having an especially dedicated community of supporters. The Proclaimers recorded a
demo album with the assistance of
Kevin Rowland of
Dexys Midnight Runners. and
Chrysalis Records quickly signed the pair. 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". 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 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".
Sunshine on Leith's following concert tour included a performance at the 1989
Glastonbury Festival, playing to an audience of over 65,000. The Proclaimers had a
hit with their
EP King of the Road, which reached number nine in the UK in 1990. The Proclaimers appeared on American singer-songwriter
Chris Harford's 1992 album
Be Headed, performing on the song "Sing, Breathe, and Be Merry". "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" belatedly peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 in August 1993, after appearing in the movie
Benny & Joon, becoming their only chart single in the United States.
Sunshine on Leith peaked at No. 31, shifting close to 700,000 units in the US by 2001. The Proclaimers' third studio album,
Hit the Highway, was released in 1994. Cameron Matthews of
Vice praised the song "a rocking cover" which gave "a Scottish twist to the ... original". The Proclaimers kept out of the public eye for much of the late 1990s, mainly due to family commitments.
Persevere was to-date the only album of theirs to be recorded in the United States, and saw the duo tour North America in support of Canadian
alternative rock band
Barenaked Ladies.
The Best of The Proclaimers the duo's first
greatest hits album, was released on 15 April 2002. The album was hailed by Hal Horowitz as "a near-perfect summary" of their material. Reaching No. 5 and being certified platinum in the UK,
Finest, the duo's second greatest hits album, was also released in 2003. but was nonetheless certified
silver in the UK. The lead single, "Life with You", reached No. 58 in the UK, having been the only new Proclaimers single to chart since 1994, with
Boston Globe praising the record's politically edged content, remarking that "the Proclaimers are best when [...] proclaiming". (centre) at the opening on Scotland House, 2012
Life with You's US release was promoted by an American tour, including performances in
Buffalo,
Philadelphia,
Chicago,
Seattle,
Los Angeles and
Solana Beach in April and May 2008.
Notes & Rhymes, the eighth Proclaimers studio album, was released in June 2009 They featured in
VH1's 100 greatest one hit wonders, "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" having been their only US hit single.
Like Comedy, in 2012, was the Proclaimers' ninth studio effort and their first to be released on
Cooking Vinyl records. the record enjoyed a "generally favourable reception". The Proclaimers toured the United States in April 2013, performing as an
acoustic duo once again. That summer, the duo toured
music festivals in the UK and Canada. Peaking at No. 80 on the
UK Albums Chart, The song reached No. 6 in Scotland and No. 62 on the
UK Singles Chart. The album was recorded at
Rockfield Studios in
Wales and produced by
Dave Eringa. As stated by member Charlie Reid, the decision to have Eringa produce ''Let's Hear It for the Dogs
was brought about by an admiration for his work with Manic Street Preachers, and on the Johnson and Daltrey album Going Back Home''. Their eleventh studio album,
Angry Cyclist, was released in August 2018. Noted for its political lyrics attacking
Brexit and the
Trump administration,
AllMusic's Marcy Donelson lauding the record "one of [their] best", and
The Skinny praising the album-track "Classy" as "lyrical genius". During ''Angry Cyclist's'' accompanying
promotional tour, they performed in the United Kingdom, Asia, Canada and Australia, to over 400,000 people. The Proclaimers also opened at the 2019
Glastonbury Festival. In late May 2022, it was revealed on The Proclaimers' official website that the duo would announce a new studio album on 16 June that year, a date that was later put back until the 30th of that month. On that date, the duo's twelfth album
Dentures Out was announced for release on 16 September 2022. The news came alongside the release of the album's lead single "The World that Was" and the announcement of Manic Street Preachers frontman
James Dean Bradfield's collaboration on the record. ==Activism==