Alex Glasgow

Alex Glasgow (14 October 1935 – 14 May 2001) was an English singer-songwriter from Low Fell, Gateshead, England. He wrote the songs and music for the musical plays Close the Coal House Door and On Your Way, Riley! by Alan Plater, and scripts for the TV drama When the Boat Comes In, the theme song of which he sang. The son of a coal miner, Glasgow was born in Gateshead. His parents had previously emigrated during the depression in the 1930s to New Zealand and then Sydney in Australia, where his sister Isabelle was born. They later returned to the UK and Alex was born in 1935.

He was educated at Gateshead Grammar School, where he was a founding member of the Caprians Choir in 1953. He graduated in Languages from University of Leeds and taught in Germany.

Glasgow met Patricia Wallace, known as "Paddy", at Leeds University in 1955. They married in Bremen, North Germany, on 5 July 1961. They had three children: Richard, Daniel and Ruth. He left Gateshead and moved to Fremantle, Western Australia with his family in 1981. The press reported that Alex suffered from arthritis and Australia's climate was expected to give him some relief. He spent his last years there and died aged 65 on 14 May 2001, after a long battle with early-onset dementia.