James Alec Stewart (born 31 January 1964) is a retired

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

musician who was the

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a Bass (instrument), bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboar ...

of the

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

band

The Cult The Cult are an English rock band formed in 1983 in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Before settling on their current name in January 1984, the band performed under the name Death Cult, which was an evolution of the name of lead singer Ian Astbury's ...

. He recorded on The Cult's first four

albums An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records coll ...

, ''

Dreamtime The Dreaming, also referred to as Dreamtime, is a term devised by early anthropologists to refer to a religio-cultural worldview attributed to Australian Aboriginal mythology, Australian Aboriginal beliefs. It was originally used by Francis Ja ...

'', ''

Love Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest Interpersonal relationship, interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of ...

'', ''

Electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...

'' and ''

Sonic Temple ''Sonic Temple'' is the fourth studio album by British rock band The Cult, released on 10 April 1989. The album features some of the band's most popular songs, including "Fire Woman" and "Edie (Ciao Baby)". ''Sonic Temple'' was the last album r ...

''.

Early life

Stewart was born in Harrow,

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

, on 31 January 1964. His mother, Myra (née Kidd), was a dancer with the

International Ballet International Ballet was a British ballet company that operated, with great success, between 1941 and 1953. Its director throughout its existence was Mona Inglesby, who was also its principal ballerina. Although it was Britain's largest ballet c ...

, and his father, Donald Stewart, was a violinist with the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

Performance career

Stewart's musical career began playing guitar in Harrow-based band

Ritual A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized, b ...

. Ritual gigged extensively in London's

gothic rock Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie a ...

scene but rarely outside. Ritual's first output was a 4 song radio session for

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

in 1981. This led the way for a self-compiled and released cassette album, ''Songs for a Dead King'', which was available only at gigs and by mail order. In 1982, Ritual signed to Red Flame Records and released one single, "Mind Disease" (1982) and one EP, ''Kangaroo Court'' (1983).

The Cult

In 1983, Ritual drummer

Ray Mondo Raymond Taylor-Smith (birth date unknown, born in Sierra Leone) was a drummer for several notable British post-punk and gothic rock groups during the early 1980s. He is best known by his stage name, Ray Mondo. Ray Mondo first appeared on the Briti ...

was recruited by

Ian Astbury Ian Robert Astbury (born 14 May 1962) is an English singer, best known as a founding member, lead vocalist and frontman of the rock band the Cult. During various hiatuses from the Cult, Astbury has fronted the short-lived Holy Barbarians in 1 ...

and

Billy Duffy William Henry Duffy (born 12 May 1961) is an English rock musician, best known as the guitarist of the band The Cult. Early life Duffy was born and grew up in Manchester. He has Irish and Jewish heritage and ancestry. He began playing the g ...

to form a new act entitled

Death Cult The Cult are an English rock band formed in 1983 in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Before settling on their current name in January 1984, the band performed under the name Death Cult, which was an evolution of the name of lead singer Ian Astbury's ...

(later

). Stewart, after prompting from Mondo, attended auditions for the Death Cult bass player role and was subsequently hired. From their beginning, Death Cult had a commitment to

Beggars Banquet Records Beggars Banquet Records is a British independent record label. Beggars Banquet started as a chain of record shops owned by Martin Mills and Nick Austin and is part of the Beggars Group of labels. History In 1977, spurred by the prevailing DI ...

. In April 1983, Death Cult released an EP, ''Death Cult'', on Beggars offshoot label

Situation Two Situation Two (a.k.a. Situation 2) was a British independent record label founded in 1981 by Peter Kent as an offshoot of the Beggars Banquet label. At the time, Beggars Banquet releases were often distributed by WEA; to appeal to the indie ...

. In Sep 1983,

was replaced by

Nigel Preston Nigel Preston (4 April 1963, Birmingham, England – 1 April 1992) was an English drummer. He was a founding member of the Cult. He also played and recorded with Theatre of Hate, Sex Gang Children, the Baby Snakes, the Gun Club and DeLuca. H ...

, Duffy’s former bandmate in

Theatre of Hate Theatre of Hate are a British post-punk band formed in London, England, in 1980. Led by singer-songwriter Kirk Brandon (formerly of the Pack), the original group also consisted of bassist Stan Stammers (formerly of the Straps and the Epilepti ...

. At the time, Preston was playing with post-punk/goth band

Sex Gang Children Sex Gang Children are an early gothic rock and post-punk band that formed in early 1982 in Brixton in London, England. Although the original group only released one official studio album, their singles and various other tracks have been pack ...

. A drummer swap was agreed between the bands, feeling that the playing styles of each drummer were better suited to the future direction of the other band. In October 1983, Death Cult released a single, "God's Zoo", with Preston on drums. The group changed their name to

minutes before a live performance of the song "

Spiritwalker "Spiritwalker" is a single by the English rock band The Cult and was released in 11 May 1984. "Spiritwalker" is the lead single from the ''Dreamtime'' album, although it was released nearly five months before the album was released. Song orig ...

" on the Channel 4 series The Tube. Stewart continued to play bass on all Cult recordings until 1990. He also played keyboards on several songs on the ''

'', ''Love'' and ''

'' albums. Following the recording of the band's third long-player, ''Electric'', in 1987, the band felt that a second guitarist was needed on tour to reproduce the music of Electric. The role was filled by Stewart, having a familiarity with the songs and style, and being a former guitarist. For the tours,

Kid Chaos Kid Chaos, also known as Haggis (born Stephen Harris), is a British rock bassist and guitarist who played in incarnations of hard rock bands Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction, The Cult and The Four Horsemen as well as guesting with ''Appetite ...

(formerly of

Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction are a British hard rock group, which was formed in 1985. Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction play a sleazy style of commercial hard rock featuring big riffs and choruses, as was the trend in the band ...

) was recruited as bassist. Stewart continued to appear on bass in the first two promotional videos for ''Electric'': "

Love Removal Machine "Love Removal Machine" is a song recorded by the British rock band the Cult. It was the first single to be released from the group's 1987 album ''Electric''. First recorded during a radio session, it had a different arrangement when it was recor ...

" and "Lil Devil". The 5 piece line-up with Stewart on guitar was used for the 3rd video, Wild Flower. Stewart moved back to bass for the recording and touring of the

album. Keyboards for the recording were played by

John Webster John Webster (c. 1580 – c. 1632) was an English Jacobean dramatist best known for his tragedies '' The White Devil'' and ''The Duchess of Malfi'', which are often seen as masterpieces of the early 17th-century English stage. His life and car ...

(

Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of Steven Tyler (lead vocals), Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry (guitar), Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums) and Brad Whi ...

Tom Cochrane Thomas William Cochrane ( ; born May 14, 1953) is a Canadian musician best known as the frontman for the rock band Red Rider and for his work as a solo singer-songwriter. Cochrane has won eight Juno Awards. He is a member of the Canadian Music ...

), and by John Sinclair (

Ozzy Osbourne John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which period he adop ...

, Uriah Heep) on tour. In 1990, following the tour, Stewart left the band, citing the distance that had grown between Astbury and Duffy, and a wish to start a family, as the main reasons for departure. His final appearance with The Cult was at the

Universal Amphitheater Universal Amphitheatre (later known as Gibson Amphitheatre) was an indoor amphitheatre located in Los Angeles, California within Universal City. It was built as an outdoor venue, opening in the summer of 1972 with a production of '' Jesus Chris ...

in Los Angeles on 3 April 1990.

Music production career

Having relocated to London, Stewart moved into studio work, producing an EP on

for Goat, featuring Adrian Oxaal, later guitarist with

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

. During this time, Stewart joined

Adrian Smith Adrian Frederick "H" Smith (born 27 February 1957) is an English guitarist best known as a member of heavy metal band Iron Maiden, for whom he also writes songs and performs backing vocals both live and in the studio. Smith grew up in London ...

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

in a low-key band The Untouchables (which became

Psycho Motel Psycho may refer to: Mind * Psychopath * Sociopath * Someone with a personality disorder * Someone with a psychological disorder People with the nickname * Karl Amoussou or Psycho, mixed martial artist * Peter Ebdon or Psycho, English snooker ...

), playing informal gigs, mainly around London. In 1991, following the birth of his daughter, he moved with his family to Toronto, Canada, to pursue a production career. In 1992, Stewart produced the Joni Mitchell song " A Case of You" with Toronto-based band Sloan for the tribute album ''

Back to the Garden ''Back to the Garden'' is a tribute album to Joni Mitchell, released in 1992. It was released on Intrepid Records, after the Canadian chart success of their 1991 Bruce Cockburn tribute, ''Kick at the Darkness''. The album's first single was Slo ...

''. The song became the album’s most successful single. In 1993, Stewart worked at

Le Studio Le Studio (later renamed Studio Morin Heights) was a residential recording studio in the Laurentian Mountains near the town of Morin-Heights, Quebec, Canada built in 1972 by recording engineer and producer André Perry, Nick Blagona and Ya ...

, in Morin Heights, Quebec, with the band Les Respectables. The recordings remained unreleased until some songs surfaced on their 1996 album Full Regalia. Stewart worked with Ripped in 1994 to produce songs for their debut album ''Bloodshot''. While in Toronto, Stewart also took other opportunities for studio performance. In 1993, he co-wrote, produced and played bass on an EP for Polygram Canada with Toronto singer/guitarist Ed McDonald, entitled ''Masterstroke''. In 1994, he played fretless bass on ''Memory Thief'', the second album by Polygram artists Lost & Profound.

Post-music career

Stewart retired from the music industry in 1994 and moved back to the United Kingdom with his family. He now works in software and user interface design, and lives in

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

with his family.

Reunions with The Cult

On 10 October 2009, on a tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of the release of the

album, Stewart played bass again with his former bandmates on stage at London’s

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

for two encores, The Phoenix and

She Sells Sanctuary "She Sells Sanctuary" is a song by British rock band the Cult. It is from their second studio album, ''Love'' (1985), and was released as a single on 13 May 1985, peaking at number 15 on the UK Singles Chart in July of the same year. In July 20 ...

. He was also joined onstage by the original drummer for the recordings,

Mark Brzezicki Mark Michael Brzezicki ( , ; born 21 June 1957) is an English musician, best known as the drummer for the Scottish rock band Big Country. He has also played with the Cult, Ultravox, From the Jam, Procol Harum, Rick Astley, the Crazy World of ...

(formerly of

Big Country Big Country are a Scottish rock band formed in Dunfermline, Fife, in 1981. The height of the band's popularity was in the early to mid 1980s, although it has retained a cult following for many years since. The band's music incorporated Scott ...

). Again, for the 25th anniversary of the release of the

album in 2013, Stewart made several other guest appearances: *26 October 2013 - Glasgow

Barrowland The Barrowland Ballroom (also known as Barrowlands) is a dance hall and music venue in Glasgow, Scotland. History The original building opened in 1934 in a mercantile area east of Glasgow's city centre, built by Maggie McIver, the "Barras Quee ...

(on guitar), Horse Nation &

(on bass) *31 October 2013 - London Roundhouse -

(guitar), Horse Nation &

(on bass) *1 November 2013 - London Roundhouse - Sun King & Horse Nation (on bass).

Discography

Ritual

*1981 - ''Songs for a Dead King'' (album) *1982 - "Mind Disease" (single) *1983 - ''Kangaroo Court'' (EP)

Death Cult

*1983 - ''

'' (EP) *1983 - "

Gods Zoo "Gods Zoo" is a single by the English post-punk/gothic rock band Death Cult (who later shortened their name to the Cult), released on 23 October 1983 by Situation Two. The song is often, erroneously, spelled "God's Zoo" (with an apostrophe in the ...

" (single)

The Cult

*1984 - "

Ressurection Joe "Ressurection Joe" is a single by the English rock band The Cult, it was released on 14 December 1984 and wasn't found on any previous studio album by the group. "Ressurection Joe" was later, in 1986, included on the first United Kingdom compac ...

" (single) *1984 - ''

'' *1985 - ''

'' *1987 - ''

'' *1989 - ''

Masterstroke

*1993 - ''Masterstroke'' (EP)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, Jamie Living people English rock bass guitarists Male bass guitarists The Cult members People educated at Harrow High School People from Harrow, London 1964 births