Elvis was nice but not a patch on Jack: Widow of kilted musical legend on why he will always be Alexander the Great

Lillian Welsh was just six when, peeking from the stage wings, she first laid eyes on the 13-year-old performer who was to become one half of Scotland’s musical legends The Alexander Brothers.

She could not have known then that the young Jack Alexander, who tinkled the ivories at The Crypt in Denny 72 years ago, would one day become the love of her life. And not even a cosy encounter with the King of Rock’n’Roll himself, Elvis Presley, could turn the glamorous professional dancer’s head the way Jack did.

Theirs is a love story studded with stars such as Frank Sinatra and Shirley Bassey; a whirlwind of world tours, TV shows, Royal Command and London Palladium performances, and an Alexander Brothers hit record that outsold The Beatles.

Lil, 78, lost Jack – her second husband – to a stroke on November 2, 2013. He was 78. His brother and stage partner Tom, with whom he shared a career spanning more than 50 years, died in January aged 85. Now Lil has written a book in Jack’s memory: Jack The Scottish Piper.

Speaking from the music room in their Prestwick home – Jack’s piano still taking pride of place and a wall of fame displaying the celebrity life they enjoyed – Lil revealed: “Since Jack died I have not put on one CD or DVD of him. I went through such a terrible, terrible time after it with depression. I am afraid if I listen to him I’ll go right back to that day, and I couldn’t go through it again.”

The former BBC TV White Heather Club performer – who also danced, acted and performed comedy alongside some of the biggest names in Scottish showbusiness like Stanley Baxter and Billy Connolly – remembered: “I first met Jack when I was six on the stage. I was toe-tapping to the Toy Soldier and he was at the piano. I stood at the side of the stage and I watched him doing his bit. And when he came off, he watched me doing my bit.”

But it was a decade before they met again, treading the boards in Largs for a summer season. “We went together for three years until I was 19,” said Lil. “He was in Glasgow’s Metropole Theatre and I was up in The Empire with Andy Stewart. “But, when I was 19, I said I was fed up doing Scottish dancing and I left him. I wanted to go London. Jack later said it broke his heart.”

The move led to her performing around the world, including a stint in Las Vegas where she rubbed shoulders with the notorious Rat Pack – Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr . She would bump into Elvis Presley when she was 21 and he had just finished filming the 1964 release Viva Las Vegas with Ann-Margret.

And, while Lil admits Elvis was handsome and charming, for her he wasn’t a patch on the Jack she left behind. She insisted: “There was no romance. People can’t believe that I wasn’t going goo goo, gaa gaa over Elvis but he was a pal, just another pro. You were in showbusiness…we were a big gang.”

© Andrew Cawley

She returned to Scotland, married, and had her daughter Cindy. Meanwhile, Jack also married and had two daughters – Shona and Kirsteen. Tragically, Kirsteen suffered a long illness and died six months after her father.

Kilsyth-born Lil, who finally wed Jack in 1984, explained: “My first marriage fell apart within a year. I was divorced 18 years before I met Jack again.” But she admitted she initially steered clear of him because he was married. And when he invited her to the opening of the classic 1983 film Local Hero in Glasgow she declined – until Tom intervened.

She remembered: “Tom phoned and told me Jack had been separated for over three years. So I went with him. It was like we had never been apart.

“He said he was my local hero after that. He was a real romantic. He told me he loved me two or three times every day. We were married 30 years. I gave up my career to be with him.

“I was with him 24/7 and wrote some songs for him. I was in the studios and out filming with him all the time. He always said I was his soulmate.

“I dedicated my book to Jack but it is not a biography; Jack was never a piper. It is a fiction full of humour, drama and some sadness. In my story, Jack is an ornament. All the ornaments in it come to life and the humans do not realise they can speak and talk and sing.

“He ends up in a charity shop with a statue of Elvis. When the lights go out and the staff go away Elvis is singing his songs and Jack is playing his bagpipes. Jack’s personality is written into it. He had a great sense of humour. We were always laughing. He was a beautiful classical pianist. That’s what’s wrong with this house…it’s too quiet without him.”

Lil bought their Prestwick home in 1987 while he was touring in Canada and the US. The memories it holds are palpable. “I will never leave here,” she vowed. “They will take me out feet-first. Jack is still here. I feel him.”

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