Kelli Dayton, also known as Kelli Ali (a name she took to honour her father, Michael Ali) is a female vocalist most recognized for being lead singer for the trip hop group Sneaker Pimps.
She was born 30 June 1974 in Birmingham, England to an Irish/English mother and Indian father.
Before Sneaker Pimps, Kelli 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".
In the 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"), but was released from the group in 1998 when they decided to do vocals for their own songs.
After leaving the Sneaker Pimps, she moved on to a solo career under the name Kelli Ali. Her first solo album was Tigermouth in 2003, which included tracks "Sunlight in the Rain" and "Kids," and featured ex-Doors drummer John Densmore. She toured alongside Garbage in 2003 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, which remained 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. Kelli released her 5th album in 2013, entitled Band of Angels. She has collaborated extensively with the UK band Cult With No Name.
On 2 December 2016, on her Instagram feed Kelli Ali announced a new project, Ghostdriver , to be released in 2017. In her announcement Ali stated "...it will be a joint album & film project. A noir thriller and love letter to London." The project is currently being crowd-funded via a PledgeMusic campaign, and is scheduled for completion in Autumn 2017.