Born in 1949, Jack Vettriano grew up and was educated in the Scottish mining town of Leven in North East Fife.  He was entirely self taught and became one of Britain's best known contemporary artists. His work first came to public prominence at the Royal Scottish Academy open exhibition in 1988. Since then there were sell out exhibitions in Edinburgh, London, Hong Kong, Johannesburg and New York.

In 2003, Jack Vettriano was awarded an Honorary doctorate from the University of St Andrews and an OBE for Services to the Visual Arts. In April 2004, his painting 'The Singing Butler' was sold at Sotheby's for almost £750,000 - a record breaking price at that time for a painting by a Scottish artist.