Viv Albertine | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Viviane Katrina Louise Albertine |
Born | Sydney, Australia | 1 December 1954
Origin | London, England |
Genres | |
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Instruments |
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Years active | 1976–2014 |
Formerly of |
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Website | vivalbertine |
Viviane Katrina Louise Albertine (born 1 December 1954) [1] [2] is an Australian-born English musician, singer, songwriter and writer. She is best known as the guitarist for the punk band the Slits from 1977 until 1982, with whom she recorded two studio albums. Prior to joining the Slits, Albertine was a member of the Flowers of Romance.
Following the Slits' break-up in 1982, Albertine studied filmmaking and subsequently worked as a freelance director for the BBC and British Film Institute. After a lengthy break from performing and recording music, Albertine released her sole solo studio album, The Vermilion Border, in 2012.
Albertine's first autobiography, Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys, was released in 2014 to widespread critical acclaim. A follow-up focusing on her family, To Throw Away Unopened, was released in 2018.
Albertine was born in Sydney to an English mother of partial Swiss ancestry and a Corsican father. [1] She was brought up in north London, attended comprehensive school in Muswell Hill, and at the age of 17 enrolled in Hornsey School of Art. [3] After completing a foundation course at Hornsey, she went to Chelsea School of Art to study fashion and textile design. In 1976, while still studying at Chelsea, she helped form the early punk band the Flowers of Romance. In 1976, her Swiss maternal grandmother bequeathed her some money with which she purchased an electric guitar. [4]
Albertine was a key figure in the 1970s punk scene, and was the on/off girlfriend of Mick Jones of the Clash. In 1976, she formed the Flowers of Romance with Sid Vicious. She joined the Slits as the band's guitarist after founding member Kate Korus left. She was hesitant to join an all female band, but she changed her mind after her friend Chrissie Hynde told her to 'shut up and get on with it'.
The Clash's 1979 song "Train in Vain" has been interpreted by some as a response to "Typical Girls" by the Slits, which mentions girls standing by their men. Albertine split up with songwriter Mick Jones shortly before he wrote the song. [5]
While continuing as a key member of the Slits, Albertine contributed guitar and vocal work to the 49 Americans' 1980 album E Pluribus Unum. [6]
She became part of Adrian Sherwood's dub-influenced collective New Age Steppers, and played on their self-titled 1981 debut album. She appeared as a guest guitarist on the Flying Lizards' debut album, as well as Singers & Players' 1982 album, Revenge of the Underdog. [6]
In 2009, Albertine began performing as a solo artist. Her debut gig was at the Windmill in Brixton on 20 September 2009. [7] She went on to tour the US, opening for the Raincoats. [8] In March 2010, she released a four-song debut solo EP entitled, Flesh, on Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace! label. [9]
Albertine recorded a cover version of David Bowie's "Letter to Hermione" for the Bowie tribute album, We Were So Turned On: A Tribute to David Bowie , which was released on 6 September 2010. Her debut solo album, The Vermilion Border, was released on 5 November 2012 through the Cadiz Music label. The album was a featured project on Pledgemusic. [10] On 17 June 2013, she opened for Siouxsie Sioux at the Royal Festival Hall in London. [11]
Following the death of her mother in 2014, Albertine stepped away from music: "I'm just not interested in playing any more. I came to that decision the night my mum died. I don't worship musicians. I don't worship rock'n'roll. I don't miss it. I see music as a vehicle like writing or film-making, but I don't think it's a very relevant medium for me at the moment." [2]
After the Slits disbanded in 1982, Albertine studied filmmaking in London. She worked as a director, mostly for television and making promos and videos for bands, many of which were used on UK MTV throughout most of the 1980s and 1990s, for example, "Ghosts of American Astronauts" by the Mekons. Her freelance directing work included stints with the BBC and the British Film Institute. [12]
In 1991, Albertine wrote and directed the short film Coping with Cupid , a film about three aliens as blondes that come to earth to research romantic love. In 2010, she worked with Joanna Hogg on the soundtrack to Hogg's 2010 film Archipelago .[ citation needed ]
In 2013, Albertine starred in Hogg's 2013 film Exhibition , alongside Tom Hiddleston and Liam Gillick. The film premiered at the Locarno Film Festival in August 2013, and was released on DVD in 2014. [13]
Albertine's memoir, Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys, was published in 2014 in the UK by Faber and Faber and in the US by Thomas Dunne Books. [14] It was a Sunday Times, Mojo, Rough Trade and NME Book of the Year in 2014, as well as being shortlisted for the National Book Awards. In 2019, The New York Times named the memoir in its The 50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years article. [15]
Her second memoir To Throw Away Unopened was published by Faber and Faber in May 2018. [16] [17] The book describes the complex relationship between Albertine and her mother. [17] The title is taken from a note pinned to a bag left behind by her mother after her death. [17] Albertine admits she viewed this as "a provocation", and felt that her mother expected her to look inside: The contents turned out to be personal diaries, which Albertine read in full, and ultimately incorporated into her own memoir. [17]
Albertine married in 1991 and gave birth to a daughter, Vida, in 1999. [18] After seventeen years of marriage, the pair divorced. [19] Albertine currently lives in Hackney, London.[ citation needed ]
Albertine is on the autism spectrum. [20]
The Slits were a punk rock band based in London, formed there in 1976 by members of the groups the Flowers of Romance and the Castrators. The group's early line-up consisted of Ari Up and Palmolive, with Viv Albertine and Tessa Pollitt replacing founding members Kate Korus and Suzy Gutsy. Their 1979 debut album, Cut, has been called one of the defining releases of the post-punk era.
Kim Althea Gordon is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and rapper best known as the bassist, guitarist, and vocalist of alternative rock band Sonic Youth. Born in Rochester, New York, she was raised in Los Angeles, California, where her father was a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. After graduating from Los Angeles's Otis College of Art and Design, she moved to New York City to begin an art career. There, she formed Sonic Youth with Thurston Moore in 1981. She and Moore married in 1984, and the band released a total of six albums on independent labels before the end of the 1980s. It then released nine studio albums on the label DGC Records, beginning with Goo in 1990. Gordon was also a founding member of the musical project Free Kitten, which she formed with Julia Cafritz in 1993.
The Raincoats are a British experimental post-punk band. Ana da Silva and Gina Birch formed the group in 1977 while they were students at Hornsey College of Art in London.
The Flowers of Romance was an early punk band, formed in mid-1976 by Jo Faull and Sarah Hall, girlfriends at the time of Steve Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols. The band did not release any recordings and, like London SS and Masters of the Backside, are more famed for the number of band members that later became well known, including: Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols, Keith Levene, Palmolive and Viv Albertine of The Slits, and Kenny Morris. Morris replaced Palmolive on drums in the last months of the band's existence in late 1976. The band ended in January 1977 when Vicious joined Sex Pistols and Morris rehearsed with Siouxsie. Despite never playing live, they were interviewed by SKUM fanzine in which Sid Vicious proclaimed "I'll just be the yob that I am now".
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The Pop Group are an English rock band formed in Bristol in 1977 by vocalist Mark Stewart, guitarist John Waddington, bassist Simon Underwood, guitarist/saxophonist Gareth Sager, and drummer Bruce Smith. Their work in the late 1970s crossed diverse musical influences including punk, dub, funk, and free jazz with radical politics, helping to pioneer post-punk music.
The pogo is a dance in which the dancers jump up and down, while either remaining on the spot or moving around; the dance takes its name from its resemblance to the use of a pogo stick, especially in a common version of the dance, where one keeps one's torso stiff, one's arms rigid, and one's legs close together. Pogo dancing is most associated with punk rock, and is a precursor to moshing.
Cut is the debut studio album by English punk band the Slits, released on 7 September 1979. It was recorded at Ridge Farm Studios in Rusper and produced by Dennis Bovell.
Ariane Daniele Forster, known by her stage name Ari Up, was a German vocalist best known as a member of the English punk rock band the Slits.
Paloma McLardy, known as Palmolive, is a Spanish drummer and songwriter who was a member of influential early punk bands. She founded the Slits toward the end of 1976. After leaving that group in 1978, she joined the Raincoats and performed on their first album, The Raincoats.
Deborah Ann Harry is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached No. 1 on the US charts between 1979 and 1981.
Mary Beth Patterson, known by her stage name Beth Ditto, is an American singer and songwriter most notable for her work with the indie rock band Gossip. Her voice has been compared to Etta James, Janis Joplin and Tina Turner. She disbanded Gossip to pursue a career in fashion, and has since started a solo career. In 2022, she portrayed country singer Gigi Roman on the Fox drama series Monarch, and two years later, Gossip reformed.
Return of the Giant Slits is the second studio album by English punk band the Slits, released in 1981 by CBS Records on LP and cassette. In comparison with its widely acclaimed predecessor, Cut, released in 1979, it showcases a rhythmic, more experimental sound, inspired by afro-pop. The Slits would disband for the first time months after its release in early 1982.
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Exhibition is a 2013 drama film written and directed by Joanna Hogg, starring Viv Albertine, Liam Gillick, and Tom Hiddleston. The film premiered at the Locarno Film Festival in August 2013, and was released in the UK on 25 April 2014.
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