Stuart Zender is a bassist best known for his work with Jamiroquai, where he was bassist from 1992 to 1998. Born Stuart ‘Patrick Jude' Zender on March 18th, 1974 in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. At age 7, he moved to the United States as his stepfather was transferred to work near Philadelphia. He grew up in Norristown until he was 15, when he would move back to the UK. He left school when he was 16 and went straight in to music by working as a light man for the punk-circus outfit Archaos. Zender originally started off by playing a little snare drum before moving on to bass. He got involved in bass guitar more seriously by playing in bands by way of his sister and her involvement of the music scene. Stuart would often go along to the rehearsals and sit on the drums before being attracted to the bass. One former band mate recalls often being frustrated by Stuart's lack of concentration, citing that he would never practice and then once in rehearsal, never stop playing! Once it came time to talk to Stuart, he had already left for the Jamiroquai job! Before joining Jamiroquai, Zender had only been playing the bass for around 2 years - but he appeared to have a natural gift for the instrument. He comes from a musical family, and his uncle is a guitarist, and his older sister was a backing vocalist. As part of his learning process, SZ learned how to play (note for note) the bass parts of Jaco Pastorius and Alphonso Johnson's work on the Weather Report ‘Black Market' album