Thornalley was born in
Worlington, Suffolk. He began working as a recording engineer in 1978 at
RAK Studios in London for producers
Mickie Most,
Steve Lillywhite and
Alex Sadkin. His first major role as a producer was for the 1982 album
Pornography by
the Cure. The following year, he produced the non-album Cure single "
The Love Cats" and contributed a distinctive
double bass performance on the song. He was nominated for a
Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical in 1984 for
Into the Gap by the
Thompson Twins and released his first solo album,
Swamp, in 1988. Also in 1988, he joined the pop band
Johnny Hates Jazz, which included his friend Mike Nocito, on lead vocals and various instruments, and appeared on their 1991 album
Tall Stories. Just before the album was released, Thornalley and bandmate Calvin Hayes were involved in a serious car accident, and their inability to tour caused the album to stall. Thornalley left the band the following year. Thornalley has also written hit songs for
BBMak, and in the late 2000s he wrote two UK number one singles – "
Mama Do" and "
Boys and Girls" – for
Pixie Lott. He has also served as an engineer or producer for a wide variety of artists, including
Duran Duran,
XTC,
Sting,
Edwyn Collins,
Prefab Sprout,
Junior Giscombe,
John Martyn,
Ash,
Kiki Dee,
Kim Wilde,
Wax, and
Cyndi Lauper. In 2016, Thornalley joined the touring band for
Bryan Adams as bassist and wrote songs for the albums
Get Up and
Shine a Light. In 2018 he launched a solo project called Astral Drive, and released three albums under that name. In 2022 he returned to recording under his own name and released the album
Now That I Have Your Attention. In 2022,
Bass Player magazine listed Thornalley's performance on "The Love Cats" by the Cure as the 23rd-best bass line of all time, though it was the first time he had ever played an
upright bass . The
National Portrait Gallery includes his portrait by photographer
Julian Anderson where he is listed as "songwriter". ==Influences==