Alistair Jardine "Ali" McMordie (born 31 March 1959 in
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...
,
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
) is a bass guitarist, best known as a founding member of
Stiff Little Fingers
Stiff Little Fingers are a punk rock band from Belfast, Northern Ireland. They formed in 1977 at the height of the Troubles, which informed much of their songwriting. They started out as a schoolboy band called Highway Star (named after the De ...
, playing with the band from 1977 until they broke up in 1983,
and joined them on the first few years of reunion tours five years later.
![DSC_4315_Ali_McMordie_Stiff_Little_Fingers_KK's_Steel_Mill](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/DSC_4315_Ali_McMordie_Stiff_Little_Fingers_KK%27s_Steel_Mill.jpg)
After Stiff Little Fingers disbanded in 1983, McMordie joined a group of Reading musicians in the newly formed dance-punk band,
Friction Groove. They secured a deal with Warner label,
Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
, and went on to record an album - ''The Black Box'' - in Berlin and Brussels, from which the first single ("Time Bomb") charted very briefly.
Around 1986 he provided, along with other Friction Groove members, the core band behind
Sinéad O'Connor, who had just arrived in London from Dublin. Ali was later sacked.
Between 1992 and 1994 Ali McMordie was executive producer for the
Peace Together
''Peace Together'' was a 20 July 1993 fundraiser compilation album released by the Peace Together organisation, dedicated to promoting peace in Northern Ireland, which was initiated by Robert Hamilton, of The Fat Lady Sings, and Ali McMordie of St ...
Irish concert events. Since 1994 he has been the tour manager for American artist Richard Hall AKA
Moby
Richard Melville Hall (born September 11, 1965), known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter, singer, producer, and animal rights activist. He has sold 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic considers him to be "among the ...
(with whose band he has sometimes played bass). Ali has also been used as the live bassist for Belfast singer-songwriter
Dan Donnelly, having played in Dan's live band at the
Beautiful Days Festival 2006 in
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...
.
In 2006, it was announced that McMordie was to rejoin Stiff Little Fingers for their current tour, and subsequently that he was rejoining the band on a permanent basis. As of 2021, he is still playing bass with SLF.
Besides being a live musician, McMordie runs Alistair McMordie Tour Management.
References
External links
Official website
1959 births
living people
musicians from Belfast
People educated at the Belfast Royal Academy
Bass guitarists from Northern Ireland
Stiff Little Fingers members
Rough Trade Records artists
{{UK-bass-guitarist-stub