Deacon Blue are a predominantly Glaswegian pop band, whose name is taken from the title of a Steely Dan song, whose lyrics seem to reflect the group's early outlook. Formed in 1985, they were one of the top-selling UK bands of the late 1980s and early 1990s, and comprised Ricky Ross, Lorraine McIntosh, James Prime, Dougie Vipond, Ewen Vernal and Graeme Kelling. Ross, a former school teacher from Dundee, the group's frontman and main songwriter, married vocalist McIntosh in the later years of the band's career.

In 1986, the band contributed a track ("Take the Saints Away") to a compilation cassette entitled "Honey at the Core", which featured then up-and-coming Glasgow bands such as Wet Wet Wet and Hue and Cry. Debut album, "Raintown", produced by Jon Kelly, was released in 1987, is regarded by many as their best work, containing classics such as "Dignity", "Chocolate Girl" and "Loaded". "Raintown" can be looked upon as a concept album - nearly all the songs contribute to an overall theme of being stuck in a dead-end life in a deprived city, longing for something better. The city the album's title refers to is Glasgow, and the memorable cover art of the album is a photograph (by the Scottish-Italian photographer Oscar Marzaroli) of the River Clyde's docks taken from Kelvingrove Park on a miserable day.

1989's "When the World Knows Your Name" represented the band's second and most commercially successful LP, boasting "Real Gone Kid", "Wages Day", and "Fergus Sings the Blues".The band had also gained a reputation as one of the best live acts in the UK, and ticket sales for shows in Glasgow's SECC in both May and December 1989 broke the world record at the time for the fastest sell-out. 1990 saw the band play in front of an estimated 250,000 fans at the free concert on Glasgow Green - "The Big Day" was held to celebrate Glasgow being named that year's European City of Culture. Deacon Blue also played Glastonbury and the Roskilde festival, and released "Ooh Las Vegas", a double album of B-sides, extra tracks, film tracks, and sessions, which reached number 3 in the UK Album charts.

The "Fellow Hoodlums" album, with Jon Kelly back on production duties, was met with more success in 1991, reaching number 2 on the UK Album charts, and was followed up by 1993's "Whatever You Say, Say Nothing", which, despite representing a more experimental effort (similar to U2's "Achtung Baby"), still managed to climb to number 4 in the UK Album charts. The following year Deacon Blue set off on another sold out UK tour, after recording new material for their greatest hits compilation "Our Town", an album which returned them to number 1 in the UK Album charts. However, Dougie Vipond's decision to quit the group in favour for a career in television, Deacon Blue split up in 1994.

5 years later, the band held an unexpected reunion gig, and this led on to a new album, "Walking Back Home", with the band now working on a part-time basis, but managing to release another album, "Homesick", in 2001. Sadly, Graeme Kelling died from cancer in 2004, but the band vowed to continue in his absence, returning to the studio in 2006 to record 3 new tracks (including "Bigger Than Dynamite") for a Singles album.

Ricky Ross, who had released a solo album (So Long Ago") before the formation of Deacon Blue, released 2 solo albums ("What You Are" and "New Recording") during the time between Deacon Blue's breakup in 1994 and reformation in 1999, and due to their part time status after reformation, Ross released additional solo albums in 2002 ("This Is The Life") and 2005 ("Pale Rider") and has written for and with other recording artists, including James Blunt and KT Tunstall.