Ian Astbury

On 26 May 2012, Astbury married The Black Ryder singer/guitarist Aimee Nash in Las Vegas.

On 29 May 2010 Boris performed "The End" with Ian Astbury at Vivid Festival on Sydney. Boris and Astbury released a four-song EP in September 2010 on Southern Lord and Daymare Records, containing four tracks entitled Teeth and Claws, We are Witches, Rain (The Cult cover), Magickal Child.

In 2010, he provided the vocals for the song "Ghost" on guitarist Slash's self-titled solo album. The track also featured former Guns N' Roses guitarist Izzy Stradlin on rhythm guitar. Astbury is also credited for playing the drums on a track called "Gasp" by Japanese Cartoon.

He reformed The Cult with Duffy in 2006, for a series of live dates. In October 2007, The Cult released Born into This. The first single was "Dirty Little Rockstar". In 2009, The Cult announced a series of shows across Canada, the US, and various countries in Europe. It was billed as "'Love' Live", where the band performed the album, Love, in its entirety.

In 2003, Astbury performed with the surviving members of MC5 at the 100 Club in London.

Astbury became lead singer of The Doors of the 21st Century in 2002. The group featured original Doors members Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek.

In 1999, Astbury and Duffy reformed The Cult. A new contract with Atlantic Records was signed, and in 2001 Beyond Good and Evil was released. The band enjoyed radio success initially with the single "Rise", until the band fell out with Atlantic and they ended all commercial promotions and radio play for the album. Astbury described the fight with the record label as "soul destroying"; disillusioned, he brought The Cult to another hiatus in 2002.

Astbury soon after assembled another group of musicians and began writing new songs. He called the group The Holy Barbarians, and in 1996 the band released the album Cream, which was not a commercial success. The band appeared at the small Tunbridge Wells Forum which included them being joined onstage by Vic Reeves for a rendition of "Wildflower".

In 1994, The Cult returned with an untitled album and a change of musical pace. Their hard rock sound was gone, replaced instead by Astbury's growing interest in alternative music, fashion and introspective lyrics. Although two singles ("Coming Down" and "Star") were released, the album was not a commercial success. They toured to support the album; however in Brazil creative differences with guitarist Duffy reached their nadir, and this resulted in him leaving the band

After the release of the 1989 album Sonic Temple, and the single "Fire Woman", Astbury relocated to Los Angeles, California, US.

Astbury is featured on the UNKLE tracks "Burn My Shadow", "When Things Explode" and "Forever." He also sings "Flame On" on Tony Iommi's (Black Sabbath lead guitarist) solo album Iommi, and recorded a duet with Deborah Harry on her 1989 album Def, Dumb and Blonde's song "Lovelight".

The Cult are a postmodern rock band, active since 1983. Their first album, Dreamtime was released in 1984, and followed by Love in 1985. Love featured the single "She Sells Sanctuary", which introduced the band to an international audience. Many songs of these early albums focus on Native American themes, a pre-occupation of Astbury. On their third album, Electric, The Cult made a transformation to hard rock sound with the help of Rick Rubin.

In 1979, while living in Glasgow, Astbury was influenced by the Doors' song "The End", which he heard while watching the film Apocalypse Now, later describing this as "a religious experience". In 1980, he was in Liverpool, where he was active on the punk scene based around Eric's Club. He moved to Bradford in late 1980, where he helped found the post-punk band Southern Death Cult in 1981. Southern Death Cult lasted until March 1983. Along with guitarist Billy Duffy, bassist Jamie Stewart and drummer Raymond Taylor Smith, Astbury formed a new band, Death Cult and released the Death Cult EP. To help broaden their appeal, the band changed its name to "The Cult" in January 1984 before appearing on the Channel 4 television show, The Tube.

Astbury moved with his family to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, from the UK in 1973 when he was 11. He attended Glendale Secondary School. Astbury's early musical influences took root in Hamilton where he became a fan of David Bowie, Iggy Pop and The New York Dolls. He did not start performing until after his return to the UK.

Ian Robert Astbury (born 14 May 1962) is a British singer and songwriter. He is best known as a founding member and lead vocalist for the rock band the Cult.