[6] Alexander William MacLeod Beaton[3] was born on July 15, 1944,[1] in Glasgow, Scotland, to an Irish mother and Scottish father.

[2] By 1981 Beaton was a resident singer at the Bob Burns Restaurant in Woodland Hills, California, performing a variety of music including country, folk, pop, rock, and standards.

[16] While at Bob Burns, wealthy real estate broker James Gary, who was of Scottish descent, became a fan of Beaton's and invested in an album of Scottish music; this resulted in the two becoming business partners to form Glenfinnan Records (Glenfinnan is the place name of where the Jacobite rising of 1745 began).

"[5] Determined to make a breakthrough, he traveled to Linville, North Carolina and busked on a street corner on the route to the games.

[5] "Now, every Highland Games has folk music," Beaton told the Albuquerque Journal in 2000, whereas previously they "never included singers, only bagpipe bands.

"[5] By 1990, Beaton had "won acclaim as the featured performer at numerous Highland Games and Scottish cultural events throughout the U.S. and Canada".

[22] Also in 1993, it was stated that Beaton was "the featured performer at all of the major Scottish festivals, including Maxville and Fergus Highland Games in Canada, North Carolina's Grandfather Mountain, California's Santa Rosa and Cost Mesa, and the Stone Mountain Highland Games in Atlanta, Georgia.

[26] The Times Scotland noted Beaton's performance style, stating "mixed in with the tender ballads from his homeland were bawdy family favorites such as "You Cannae Shove yer Granny aff a Bus" and a healthy dose of Glaswegian banter.

[33][34] Beaton's guitar was fashioned of Brazilian rosewood (back, sides, and neck), old growth German spruce (top), and ebony wood (fret board).

[32] In 2012, the "Alex Beaton stage" was dedicated at the Scottish Fest at the OC Fair & Event Center (Costa Mesa, California).

[37] In July 2012, Beaton received the Agnes McCrae Morton Award from the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games.

[1][27] He was also survived by two daughters, Alessandra (Ali) and Catriona (Catie); a brother, Neil; a stepson, John; a granddaughter, Maggie; three nieces; one nephew; two grandnieces; and three grandnephews.