James Shand was born in East Wemyss in Fife, Scotland, son of a farm ploughman turned coal miner and one of nine children.

One day Shand and a friend were admiring the instruments in the window of a music shop in Dundee.

[citation needed] The owner, Charles Forbes, heard Shand play and immediately offered him a job as travelling salesman and debt-collector.

He switched to the British chromatic button accordion, an instrument he stuck with for the rest of his life.

Being a keen motorcyclist, Shand was also an enthusiastic supporter and spectator at the annual Isle of Man TT races.

Shand's interest in motorcycles began when a boyfriend of his sister had problems with his bike, which had broken down.

At a time when gramophones were very much luxury items he made two records for the Regal Zonophone label in 1933.

While the image showed his fingers moving in a blur, Shand was disappointed to hear the sound track playing a slow air.

He was prevented from joining the RAF by a digestive disorder, and spent the war years in the Fire Service.

[citation needed] He took his trademark bald head, Buddy Holly spectacles and full kilted regalia, Scottish reels, jigs and strathspeys to Australia, New Zealand and North America, including Carnegie Hall in New York.

[1] This period is remembered affectionately by Richard Thompson, who played Shand tunes on his Henry the Human Fly and Strict Tempo!

[citation needed] There is a biography The Jimmy Shand Story: The King of Scottish Dance Music by Ian Cameron (2001).