[7] Both Craig and Brian MacDonald were born and raised in the coastal town of Ayr, the largest settlement within South Ayrshire on the west coast of Scotland.

Between the ages of five and six years old, the brothers began to attend music classes for traditional Scottish instruments which included the accordion and fiddle.

Craig discovered a passion for singing at the age of fifteen, and entered school talent shows where he would impersonate Freddie Mercury.

Following a new desire for singing and well as playing instruments, Craig and Brian formed The MacDonald Brothers and began to be booked to perform at various events such as parties, weddings and ceilidhs across Scotland.

[8] The MacDonald Brothers auditioned for The X Factor in 2006 in Glasgow, Scotland singing "Don't Worry Baby" originally by The Beach Boys,[9] and the judges comments were positive, with Sharon Osbourne saying "You made that song not sound Californian, you made it sound Scottish ..." and Louis Walsh added "Which Was Good!".

[10] After The X Factor, the band recorded their debut album, The MacDonald Brothers, which was released on 2 April 2007, produced by Stuart Wood of Scottish super group The Bay City Rollers.

Their second album, The World Outside was released on 15 October 2007 and included a few of the Macs own songs as well as a track "Runaway (Do You Love Me)" written and given to them by Sir Elton John..

The Great Big Scottish Songbook was released on 26 May 2008 by EMI Records, and featured The MacDonald Brothers tracks as well as some of Scotland's most well known artists including KT Tunstall, The Proclaimers, Simple Minds and Runrig.

[13] "Runaway (Do You Love Me)" was released as a download single, which was written by Elton John who later offered the song to The MacDonald Brothers following his decision not to record it himself.

[17] Originally, Merry Christmas was recorded to go on sale exclusively during their "X-MAS" tour which ran through November and December 2010, however, the album was eventually released through digital download format only.

In 2010, the duo were invited once again for the third time to serve as support acts for Irish boy band Westlife during their Scottish dates at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC) and again in 2011 where they supported Westlife at Cawdor Castle in Inverness alongside Irish girlband Wonderland.