A hairdresser, a bassist and a Glasgow band that outlasted its slumps

Texas were formed in Glasgow in 1986 by singer Sharleen Spiteri, bass guitarist Johnny McElhone and guitarist Ally McErlaine, with Tony O'Boyle also among the founders. Spiteri was working as a hairdresser at Irvine and Rita Rusk's salon at the time. They made their debut in March 1988 at the University of Dundee, and their first single, “I Don't Want a Lover”, appeared in January 1989. It peaked at number eight in the UK and No. 77 in the US.

The debut album Southside, released in March 1989, entered at number three in the UK and sold over two million copies worldwide. Then the road got rough. Three more singles missed the UK top 40, and the follow-up Mothers Heaven (1991) peaked at No. 32, with its singles faring even worse. In April 1992 they released a cover of Al Green's “Tired of Being Alone”, a single that was not included on the album.

Their fourth album, White on Blonde (1997), debuted at the top of the charts in Scotland and the UK and became their biggest seller, certified six times platinum in the UK. The Hush followed in 1999 with similar success, and The Greatest Hits in 2000. After Careful What You Wish For (2003), Spiteri sang on Rammstein's “Stirb nicht vor mir (Don't Die Before I Do)”, and Red Book arrived in 2005 before an indefinite hiatus began.

During it, Spiteri released her debut solo album, Melody, in 2008. The break ended in 2013 with The Conversation, and Jump on Board (2017) reached the top ten of the album charts in Belgium and France. Hi, from 2021, became their highest-charting UK album since The Hush, debuting at number three in the UK and number one in Scotland. As of 2017 the band's worldwide sales stood at 40 million records, a long way from the Glasgow salon where their singer started out.