Eddi Reader started performing as a busker in Glasgow when she was ten. She sang backing vocals for UK punk legends, The Gang of Four, which led to session work with the Eurythmics and Alison Moyet. In the late 80s she formed Fairground Attractionand their first single, Perfect, was a number one hit in the UK. Eddi released a tribute album to her lyrical hero Robert Burns in 2003 and her eighth solo album, Peacetime, in 2006.

Liam O’maonlai started out as a teenage busker with a school friend, Fiachna Ó Braonáin. The pair were joined by Peter O’Toole and they formed the band Hothouse Flowers in 1985. Rolling Stone declared them "the best unsigned band in Europe," and within a year Hothouse Flowers were supporting U2. Their first album, People, was the most successful debut album in Irish music history and it delivered a string of hit singles.