# Kelli Ali

Kelli Ali, also known as Kelli Dayton (born 30 June 1974), is a British vocalist, guitarist and painter who was formerly the lead singer of the trip hop group Sneaker Pimps before going on to a solo career.

## Career
### Early bands (1990–1996)

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".

### Sneaker Pimps and Becoming X (1996–1997)

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.

### Tigermouth, Psychic Cat and Rocking Horse (1998–2008)

After leaving Sneaker Pimps, she moved on to a solo career under the name Kelli Ali after her father who had passed away 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.

### Band of Angels and Ghostdriver (2013–present)

Ali released her 5th 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.

### Paintings and Drawings

Kelli Ali is selling paintings and drawings signed by herself via bigcartel.com.

## Discography
### Studio albums

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 |

### Singles
#### As lead artist

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

#### As featured artist

List of singles as a featured artist, with selected chart positions :
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Album |
| Title | Year | UK | UK Dance | UK Indie | GER | SWI | US Dance | Album |
| "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 | Full Lick |
| "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. |||||||||

### Guest appearances

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

## Filmography

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

## Personal life

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. She is a practitioner of kung-fu and Taoism.