It was with great sadness that I learned of the death of Ali McKenzie on the last day of April 2021. I was privileged briefly to get to know Ali when I played with his band “The Birds” for a couple of gigs in the mid sixties, when bassist Kim Gardner was off sick. I immediately hit it off with Ali and guitarist Ron Wood, and was particularly impressed by the sheer energy that Ali and Ron exuded during their stage show which made it a very exciting spectacle indeed. Sadly The Birds never reached the heights they were aiming for and folded up not long afterwards. I didn’t see Ali for some years until he became a regular visitor to gigs by the Good Ol’ Boys and we were able to rekindle our friendship. He would often get up and sing a couple of songs with the band proving that he hadn’t lost the ability to perform, and was quite capable of sitting in a couple of times when the band’s vocalist Alan Barratt was unavailable.

Although no longer a professional he retained an impressive vocal knowledge and proved time and time again that he could please an audience. Finally, in more recent years he began to gig regularly once again with his own band with great success. His passing has diminished the dwindling group of musicians that we know as the “Marshall Set” who got to know one and other during the heady days of the 1960’s when Jim Marshall opened his first shop in Hanwell. Ali always demonstrated a good reliable vocal ability, with a quite amazing knowledge of different songs. He was always good company and a pleasure to be around. Thanks for the memories Ali, I’ll miss you !