Kelli Ali

Ali worked across singer, musician, guitarist and film director. The registers place that work in pop music. This article rests on 41 catalogued compositions, 1 published texts, 19 issued recordings, 1 digitised documents and 5 scholarly references drawn from named institutional registers. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.

• Name — Kelli Ali • Birth Name — Kelli Dayton • Born — 30 June 1974 • Birthplace — Birmingham, England • Instrument — Vocals, guitar • Genre — * Alternative rock • electronic • dream pop • trip hop • folk • industrial • Years Active — 1990–present • Label — One Little Independent Records • Past Member Of — * The Lumieres • Sneaker Pimps • Dropz • Website — Kelliali.com

Before Sneaker Pimps, Ali was part of a group called Psycho Drama, which she joined when she was 16 years old. A few years later, she was asked by Russell Cross of the band The Lumieres to join his band (as their songwriter, singer, and lead guitarist). The Lumieres only had one major single, "Cinder Hearts".

With Sneaker Pimps she was featured prominently in both the songs and the music videos for the album Becoming X (the group finding fame following the release of the hit single "6 Underground"). Ali was released from the group in 1998 when Chris Corner, the principal songwriter, decided to do vocals for his own songs.

After leaving Sneaker Pimps, she moved on to a solo career under the name Kelli Ali after her father who had died before the release of Becoming X. Her first solo album, Tigermouth, was released in 2003. It includes tracks "Sunlight in the Rain" and "Kids" and features ex-Doors drummer John Densmore. She toured alongside Garbage in April 2002 and released a follow-up album, Psychic Cat, in mid-2004. The second album was more of a return to Ali's rock and roll roots and featured musician-turned-author Tony O'Neill on keyboards. In April 2006, she travelled to Japan to record and write tracks with Hoshino Hidehiko from Buck-Tick and Cube Juice for the band Dropz. The same year, producer Paul Oakenfold recorded the Kelli Ali penned song "Faster Kill Pussycat" with actress Brittany Murphy. It is Murphy's only single release. On 24 November 2008, Ali released Rocking Horse, her third solo album. The album was produced by Max Richter (Fat Cat records) in Glasgow and Edinburgh in the first half of 2008. In 2009, she self-released the album Butterfly.

Ali released her fifth album in 2013, entitled Band of Angels. She has collaborated with the UK band Cult With No Name. On 2 December 2016, on her Instagram feed Kelli Ali announced a new project, Ghostdriver. In her announcement Ali stated "...it will be a joint album & film project. A noir thriller and love letter to London." The project was being crowd-funded via a PledgeMusic campaign. On 30 December 2017, Ali posted an update to the site, stating, "Thanks to you, all the filming for Ghostdriver was completed and the edit is in full swing, all songs written and in the later stages of production." On 24 November 2018, Ali released "The Fear of London" as the lead single from Ghostdriver. It was distributed as a seven-track digital remix single exclusively to fans who contributed to her PledgeMusic campaign. This was followed by an exclusive PledgeMusic-only digital release of the full 15-track Ghostdriver album on 26 January 2019, with an announcement that a full commercial release of the album and single will follow later in 2019 in conjunction with the release of the final film. In the album release announcement, Ali also revealed that her former Sneaker Pimps bandmate and notable producer and engineer Liam Howe contributed extensively to the mix and additional production of the album, notably marking the first collaboration between two original Sneaker Pimps band members since their disbandment. As post-production work on the film continued through 2019, Ali released a stand-alone single, "Sadistic". It is a collaboration with producer Satoshi Tomiie, recorded during the Ghostdriver sessions. It features additional mix and production from Liam Howe. Released in December 2019 was a limited edition, deluxe Lipstick USB set and a new music video. The Ghostdriver film's post-production suffered delays in 2020 due to the Coronavirus pandemic. The soundtrack album was released 26 November 2020, with the film expected around summer 2023 after various post-production delays. As of September 2024 the film has not been released. In September 2019, Kelli Ali appeared as a main feature in the Visual Collaborative electronic catalogue, in an issue themed Vivencias which translates to "Experiences" in Spanish. She was interviewed alongside 30 people from around the world such as Dakore Akande, Adelaide Damoah and Desdamona. In 2021, Ali's song "Rocking Horse" appeared on the soundtrack of the six-part Netflix thriller series Behind Her Eyes.

List of studio albums, with selected details • Title — Details • Tigermouth — * Released: 4 March 2003 * Label: One Little Indian * Format: CD, digital download, streaming • Psychic Cat — * Released: 24 May 2004 * Label: One Little Indian * Format: CD, digital download, streaming • Rocking Horse — * Released: 24 November 2008 * Label: One Little Indian * Format: CD, digital download, streaming • Butterfly — * Released: 1 April 2009 * Label: Self-released * Format: CD, digital download, streaming • A Paradise Inhabited by Devils (with Ozymandias) — * Released: 28 October 2010 * Label: Self-released * Format: Digital download, streaming • Band of Angels — * Released: 7 January 2013 * Label: Self-released * Format: CD, digital download, streaming • Ghostdriver — * Released: 25 January 2019 * Label: Self-released * Format: CD, digital download, streaming

List of singles as lead artist, with selected chart positions • Title — Year — Peak chart positions — Album • UK Dance — UK Indie • "Kids" — 2001 — 10 — 36 — Tigermouth • "Inferno High Love" — 2002 — — — — • "Teardrop Hittin' the Ground" — 2003 — — — — • "Speakers" — 2004 — — — — — Psychic Cat • "Hot Lips" — — — — • "What to Do" — 2008 — — — — — Rocking Horse • "The Savages" — 2009 — — — — • "Kiss Me Cleopatra" — 2013 — — — — — Band of Angels • "The Art of Love" — 2015 — — — — • "The Hunter" — 2017 — — — — • "The Fear of London" — 2018 — — — — — Ghostdriver • "Sadistic" — 2019 — — — — • "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

List of singles as a featured artist, with selected chart positions • Title — Year — Peak chart positions — Album • UK — UK Dance — UK Indie — GER — SWI — US Dance • "Up in Flames" (Satoshi Tomiie featuring Kelli Ali) — 1999 — 78 — 8 — — — — — — — 4 — Full Lick • "Love in Traffic" (Satoshi Tomiie featuring Kelli Ali) — 2001 — 79 — — — 8 — — — — — 4 • "Play with Bootsy" (Bootsy Collins featuring Kelli Ali) — 2002 — — — — — — — 57 — 73 — — — Play with Bootsy • "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

List of guest appearances, with other performing artists • Title — Year — Other artist(s) — Album • "Almost Diamonds" — 1999 — Marc Almond — Open All Night • "Still" — Double Six — Beyond Sci-Fi • "Voodoo" — 2001 — Stashrider — rowspan="2" • "This Way" — 2002 — Marc van Linden, Madagascar • "Cruel" — Bryan Ferry, Alice Retif, Audrey Wheeler, Sarah Brown — Frantic • "Hiroshima…" — Bryan Ferry, Alice Retif • "San Simeon" — Bryan Ferry, Alison Goldfrapp, Lucy Kaplansky, Patti Russo, Sarah Brown • "My<Dsmbr" — Linkin Park, Mickey P. — Reanimation • "Payback Time" — 2003 — The Dysfunctional Psychedelic Waltons • "Transient Man" — Millenia Nova — Narcotic Wide Screen Vista • "Sadness" — 2004 — The Happening — As Deep as We Can Go Without Drowning • "Searchlight" • "Live Girls" — 2007 — Freddy Fresh — Surrounded by Funk • "Hope Is Existence" — 2012 — Cult with No Name — Above as Below • "Maitre D-Day" • "Drowned" • "Today the Day (They Knew Would Come)" — Cult with No Name, Meg Maryatt • "Numbers" — Cult with No Name • "What's Certain" • "Shake Hands with the Devil" • "Secondary Sexual Characteristics" • "Escape Under Blankets" — 2013 — Jilk — Retreat… • "Everything Lasts on Age" — 2014 — Cult with No Name — Another Landing • "A Pound of Penny Gaffs" • "Swept Away" • "Every Litte Box" • "Those Weren't the Days" • "Not Stranger Than Fiction" • "Walter + Wally" • "Over and Out of Here" • "Dorothy" — 2015 — Tuxedomoon, Cult with No Name — Blue Velvet Revisited • "Frank" • "Sunshine (Tricky Remix)" — Mexican Institute of Sound, Toy Selectah • "Coma (Cult with No Name Remodel)" — 2016 — S'Express, Cult with No Name — Enjoy This Trip • "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" — 2017 — The Eden House — Songs for the Broken Ones • "Rosabelle, Believe" — Cult with No Name — Heir of the Dog • "Fingertips" • "When I Was a Girl" • "Yves Klein's Blues" • "Just Rewards" • "Of California" • "No News" • "Blind Dogs for the Guides" — 2019 — Cult with No Name — Mediaburn • "Needle and Thread" • "In Hollywood You Won't Find Bel-Air" • "She Sells Incels" • "So Much Left to Undo" • "By Air or by Sea" • "Low on High" • "Mona" • "All This Spite (Comes at a Price)" • "All Those Things I Admire" — 2021 — Cult with No Name — Nights in North Sentinel • "Fight or Flight" • "You're All I Ever Needed" • "After the Storm" • "Home Again" • "Bulletproof" • "Cult with No Name"

• Ghostdriver (self-directed & written independent film in which Ali also stars alongside ensemble cast) (Post-Production initially due for release in Summer 2023 TBC)

Ali was brought up in the suburbs of Birmingham. She is of Irish, English, and Indian descent. She bought her first guitar when she was 15. In a 2002 interview, she described herself as a practitioner of kung-fu and a student of Taoism. In a 2019 interview, she stated she was "not religious at all", but "love[d] yoga and some of the Vedic philosophies, meditation and the idea that we are all intrinsically connected with every single thing around us." On her political views, she stated that "the whole idea of any kind of union other than that of a human union for the good of all human beings is outdated anyway in my view. Politics to me have always been insane. The fundamental problem with all political systems, is that they are based on the tiny amount of knowledge about our situation that we have as human beings."

Ali worked as singer, musician, guitarist and film director. Ali was active from 1990. The fields Ali worked in include pop music. Ali played the voice. Ali worked in English.