The Proclaimers

The Proclaimers
The Proclaimers (2010)
General information
Genre (s)	Folk rock
founding	1983
Website	http://www.proclaimers.co.uk/
Current occupation
Singing , tambourine	Craig Reid
Vocals, guitar	Charlie Reid

The Proclaimers are a Scottish band consisting of the identical twins Charlie and Craig Reid (born March 5, 1962 in Leith ). They are best known for their songs Letter from America and I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) . The singing style with a Scottish accent is characteristic of the group.

Career

In 1983 the brothers first teamed up as Proclaimers and started a music career as a duo. They celebrated their first success in 1987 with their debut album This Is the Story and its second single Letter from America . The track reached the official singles charts in Great Britain and Germany, among others. In 1990, their cover version of the 1965 classic King of the Road by Roger Miller became an international hit and reached chart positions across Europe.

Three years later, I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) was used as the theme song for Benny & Joon and brought them their greatest international success. In the USA they came to number 3 on the charts. This gave them another boost for their 1994 album Hit the Highway . In the years that followed, success waned and the twins took a break from music. It was not until the 2000s that they released new albums and thus came into the charts, even if there were no single successes. The Proclaimers also contributed the song I'm on My Way to the soundtrack of the 2001 film Shrek .

In 2007, Craig and Charlie Reid celebrated a chart comeback with the help of the two British comedians Peter Kay and Matt Lucas alias Brian Potter & Andy Pipkin ( Little Britain ). Kay, who had re-recorded a classic for the charity campaign Comic Relief in 2005 and made it a hit, took on the 500 Miles , and together they managed the Scots' first number 1 hit 19 years after the first Proclaimers single . At the same time, the song made a big comeback thanks to the US comedy series How I Met Your Mother . The oil and gas company OMV also used a remix of 500 miles in 2011 for its advertising campaign. The song is also used several times in the film Angels' Share by Ken Loach (2012). I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) is also used as the goal anthem at SV Werder Bremen . (As of 2015)

In the film adaptation of the musical Sunshine on Leith , released in September 2013 (based on the Proclaimers album of the same name, see below), 13 Proclaimers songs are used in the soundtrack (director: Dexter Fletcher , book: Stephen Greenhorn).

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1987	This is the story	-	-	-	UK43 gold (21 weeks)UK	-	First published: 1987
1988	Sunshine on Leith	-	AT33 (5 weeks) AT	-	UK6th platinum (27 weeks)UK	US31 gold (37 weeks)US	First published: 1988
1994	Hit the highway	-	AT19 (9 weeks) AT	-	UK8th silver (7 weeks)UK	-	First published: March 22, 1994
2001	Persevere	-	-	-	UK61 (2 weeks) UK	-	First published: May 22, 2001
2002	The Best of the Proclaimers 1987-2002	-	-	-	UK5 gold (20 weeks)UK	-	First published: April 15, 2002 Republished: April 2, 2007
2003	Born Innocent	-	-	-	UK70 (2 weeks) UK	-	First published: November 18, 2003
2005	Restless soul	-	-	-	UK74 (1 week) UK	-	First published: September 6, 2005
2007	Life with You	-	-	-	UK13 silver (7 weeks)UK	-	First published: September 3, 2007
2009	Notes & Rhymes	-	-	-	UK30 (2 weeks) UK	-	First published: June 16, 2009
2012	Like comedy	-	-	-	UK31 (3 weeks) UK	-	First published: May 7, 2012
2013	The Very Best Of: 25 Years	-	-	-	UK80 gold (3 weeks)UK	-	First published: July 2013
2015	Let's Hear It for the Dogs	-	-	-	UK26 (2 weeks) UK	-	First published: April 27, 2015
2017	Live at the Belly Up	-	-	-	-	-	First published: April 28, 2017
2018	Angry cyclist	-	-	-	UK17 (1 week) UK	-	First published: August 10, 2018

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1987	Letter from America This Is the Story	DE57 (5 weeks) DE	-	-	UK3 silver (13 weeks)UK	-
1988	Make My Heart Fly This Is the Story	-	-	-	UK63 (5 weeks) UK	-
	I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) Sunshine on Leith	DE40 (19 weeks) DE	AT5 (15 weeks) AT	CH36 (3 weeks) CH	UK11 platinum (25 weeks)UK	US3 gold (20 weeks)US	re-entry in UK 2007
	Sunshine on Leith Sunshine on Leith	-	-	-	UK41 (6 weeks) UK	-
1989	I'm on My Way Sunshine on Leith	-	-	-	UK43 (4 weeks) UK	-
1990	King of the Road	DE54 (9 weeks) DE	-	-	UK9 (8 weeks) UK	-
1994	Let's Get Married Hit the Highway	-	AT21 (4 weeks) AT	-	UK21 (5 weeks) UK	-
	What Makes You Cry Hit the Highway	-	-	-	UK38 (3 weeks) UK	-
	These Arms of Mine Hit the Highway	-	-	-	UK51 (3 weeks) UK	-
2007	I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)	-	-	-	UK1 silver (13 weeks)UK	-	feat. Brian Potter & Andy Pipkin
	Life with You Life with You	-	-	-	UK58 (2 weeks) UK	-
2014	Cap in hand	-	-	-	UK62 (1 week) UK	-

Video albums

• 2002: The Best of the Proclaimers 1987-2002

Awards for music sales

Golden record  Italy 2019: for the single I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) Platinum record  New Zealand 1989: for the album Sunshine on Leith

2 × platinum record  Canada 1993: for the album Sunshine on Leith

Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.

Country / Region	silver	gold	platinum	Sales	swell
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources)
Italy (FIMI)	-	gold1	-	25,000	fimi.it
Canada (MC)	-	-	2 × platinum2	200,000	musiccanada.com
New Zealand (RMNZ)	-	-	platinum1	15,000	nztop40.co.nz
United States (RIAA)	-	2 × gold2	-	1,000,000	riaa.com
United Kingdom (BPI)	4 × silver4th	3 × gold3	2 × platinum2	1,720,000	bpi.co.uk
All in all	4 × silver4th	6 × gold6th	5 × platinum5

swell

1. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US

Web links

• Official website
• The Proclaimers at Allmusic (English)