Stuart Murdoch

• Name — Stuart Murdoch • Landscape — yes • Birth Name — Stuart Lee Murdoch • Alias — Stewpot • Born — 25 August 1968 • Birthplace — Eastwood, Renfrewshire, Scotland • Origin — Clarkston, Renfrewshire, Scotland • Genre — Indie pop • Occupation — Musician • Instrument — * Vocals • guitar • piano • keyboard • Current Member Of — Belle and Sebastian • Past Member Of — God Help the Girl

• Illustration — Murdoch with Belle and Sebastian at the Wang Theatre in Boston, 2010 Murdoch attended Belmont Academy in Ayr from 1980–1985. Murdoch's parents made him take piano lessons during his childhood, and he claims not to have enjoyed them at the time but now "appreciates this decision vastly". Apart from early musical activities at secondary school (at age 12 he formed a band with fellow pupils, in which he played piano), Murdoch first became publicly involved in music as a radio DJ for Subcity Radio at the University of Glasgow. While at university at the end of the 1980s, he became ill with myalgic encephalomyelitis, or chronic fatigue syndrome, and was unable to work for seven years. Murdoch said that the isolation of these years led to his becoming a songwriter: "That was a big desert at the time, a kind of vacuum in my life. From that, these songs started coming out, these melodies where I could express what I was feeling." By early 1995 Murdoch had largely recovered from his illness and began to look for fellow musicians to form a band, which became Belle & Sebastian. Murdoch's struggle with chronic fatigue syndrome is the subject of the song "Nobody's Empire" on Belle & Sebastian's album Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance.

• Murdoch ran the Glasgow Marathon in 1986, and finished with a time of 2:57:08. • Murdoch was an extra in the 1996 film Trainspotting featuring as a man in a bar in the background of a scene. • He married longtime girlfriend Marisa Privitera on 26 November 2007 in New York City. Privitera is on the cover of Belle and Sebastian's DVD Fans Only and LP The Life Pursuit. Their eldest son, Denny (named after his goddaughter), was born in May 2013. Their second son Nico was born in November 2016. • Murdoch is a fan of American baseball, in particular the New York Mets and Hall of Fame catcher Mike Piazza, whom he wrote about in "Piazza, New York Catcher". • Murdoch is a fan of Scottish football team Ayr United. • Murdoch dated Tracyanne Campbell, the lead singer of the band Camera Obscura, for three years in the 2000s. • Murdoch was diagnosed with colour blindness at an early age. • In 2009, Murdoch contributed the song "Another Saturday" to the AIDS benefit album Dark Was the Night, produced by the Red Hot Organization. He was one of the most notable protesters attending a 5 December 2009 march in Glasgow supporting governmental intervention to combat climate change, prior to the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 in Copenhagen. • In 2010 Murdoch published his first memoir, The Celestial Café. In 2012–2013 he wrote and directed the musical feature film God Help the Girl, released internationally and online in 2014. When talking about his life experience, he stated, "I realized pretty fast San Francisco is my kind of town." • Murdoch has been diagnosed with Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). • Sexually ambiguous lyrics in Belle & Sebastian's music have prompted Murdoch to confirm his heterosexuality in the press, calling himself "straight to the point of boring myself". • In 2024, Murdoch published his second book, Nobody's Empire, a novel.

The following works and productions are recorded by name or by count. It is also recorded that the works of James Thomson With his last corrections and improvements. In three volumes complete. To which is prefixed the life of the author, By Patrick Murdoch, D.D.