Born in Glasgow, Scotland, to a Scottish father and an Irish mother, Alex began his musical career as a member of The Cumberland Three, one of Britain's top folk groups in the early 1960s. The Cumberland Three consisted of Alex, Brian Fogarty, Leonard Sturrock. Alex emigrated to the United States in 1965. He served in the US Army, entertaining troops in the Third Army Soldiers' Show and the Seventh US Army Chorus in Germany. He launched his solo career in New York in 1969. During the 1970s, he re-directed his career toward writing and performing American country music. He had a song of that genre that was a winner of the International American Song Festival Awards in 1974.