Alan studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and won many singing prizes and awards.

He made his operatic début in 1990 for Scottish Opera and moved on to Opera Ireland. He was a principal tenor with the State Opera, Stuttgart from 1996 to 2002, and has also sung principal tenor roles for Lyric Opera Dublin, the Carl Rosa Opera and English National Opera. In 2003, Alan formed the Scottish three-tenor group, Caledon and since then he has sung all over the world for Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies.

Alan has taught singing for many years in organisations such as the Junior Royal Northern College of Music, the Junior Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and The National Youth Choir of Scotland. He is currently the Vocal Coach for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra Chorus.  

Alan has always been a great admirer of Burns and has delivered the Immortal Memory numerous times each year since 2005. He has been singing Burns for 45 years and cannot count the number of events where he has performed the Bard’s songs.

Alan served as President of The Greenock Burns Club from 2019 – 2020. As President he launched a campaign to have a statue of Burns erected in Greenock and commissioned HM’s Sculptor in Ordinary in Scotland to create a maquette of his vision. Alan is keenly interested in researching Burns and has a particular interest in the creation of the Burns Movement. Alan achieved his PhD in Burns Studies in 2025.