Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Stuart attended Queens Park School in Glasgow and left to form his first professional band 'The Dream Police'.

He recorded a couple of singles with the Dream Police, before he was invited to join the recently formed Average White Band (AWB) in June 1972.

A member of AWB from 1972 to 1982, he went on to work with Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan and David Sanborn.

He wrote Atlantic Starr's 1986 hit "If Your Heart Isn't in It" and songs for Smokey Robinson, Jeffrey Osborne, George Benson and Diana Ross.

Stuart joined Paul McCartney’s band (where he switched between guitar and bass as necessary with McCartney) for McCartney's 1989 comeback album, Flowers in the Dirt, and appeared on several other albums and McCartney's world tours of 1989 and 1993.[1]

After collaborating on numerous albums for other artists, he recorded his first solo album, Sooner or Later, in 1999, 17 years after leaving the Average White Band, which he released on his own record label, Sulphuric Records.

Apart from playing with his own group, the Hamish Stuart Band, and with his fellow Glaswegian guitarist and friend Jim Mullen, Stuart has also produced Gordon Haskell and the Swedish singer-songwriter Meja.

In 2006, Stuart toured as the bass player with Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band. He joined Starr again for a 2008 tour, where he performed "Pick Up The Pieces" and "Work to Do".[2] He once again toured with the band in 2019 playing "Pick Up the Pieces", "Work to Do", and "Cut the Cake". Although the tour paused because of COVID-19 precautions, it resumed in 2022, completing tour dates initially planned for 2020.[3]

In 2007, he produced and appeared as a guest vocalist on the album All About the Music, by The AllStars collective.

In July 2015, Stuart reunited with his AWB bandmates Malcolm "Molly" Duncan and Steve Ferrone to form The 360 Band. This is in essence one third of the original Average White Band. They released an album titled Three Sixty in 2017 and have been performing live together along with supporting musicians.

He is the curator, along with partner Claire Houlihan and friend Tom Sutton-Roberts, of the annual mOare Music festival, held in the village of Oare, Faversham, Kent.

In recognition of his unique contribution to music, in 2016, Stuart was awarded with a BASCA Gold Badge award.[4]