Viviane Katrina Louise Albertine (born 1 December 1954) is an Australian-born British musician, singer, songwriter and writer. She is best known as the guitarist for the

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

band

the Slits The Slits were a punk and post-punk 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 (Ariane Forster) and Palmolive (a.k.a. Paloma ...

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 #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

and

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

. 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.

Early life

Albertine was born in Sydney to an English mother of partial Swiss ancestry and a Corsican father. She was brought up in north London, attended comprehensive school in

Muswell Hill Muswell Hill is a suburban district of the London Borough of Haringey, north London. The hill, which reaches over above sea level, is situated north of Charing Cross. Neighbouring areas include Highgate, Hampstead Garden Suburb, East Finchl ...

, and at the age of 17 enrolled in

Hornsey School of Art Hornsey College of Art (a.k.a. Hornsey School of Art) was a college in Crouch End in the London Borough of Haringey, England. The HCA was "an iconic British art institution, renowned for its experimental and progressive approach to art and design ...

. After completing a foundation course at Hornsey, she went to

Chelsea School of Art Chelsea College of Arts is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London based in London, United Kingdom, and is a leading British art and design institution with an international reputation. It offers further and higher educati ...

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 gave her money to purchase an electric guitar.

Music career

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

as the band's guitarist after founding member Kate Korus left. Hesitant to join an all female band she changed her mind after her friend

Chrissie Hynde Christine Ellen Hynde (born September 7, 1951) is an American musician. She is a founding member and the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of the rock band the Pretenders, and one of the band's two remaining original members alon ...

told her to "Shut up and get on with it." The Clash's 1979 song "

Train in Vain "Train in Vain" is a song by the British punk rock band the Clash. It was released as the third and final single from their third studio album, '' London Calling'' (1979). The song was not originally listed on the album's track listing, appeari ...

" 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. While continuing as a key member of the Slits, Albertine contributed guitar and vocal work to the 49 Americans' 1980 album ''E Pluribus Unum''. She became part of

Adrian Sherwood Adrian Maxwell Sherwood (born 20 January 1958, London, England) is an English record producer specialising in the genre of dub music. He has created a distinctive production style based on the application of dub effects and dub mixing techniques ...

's dub-influenced collective

New Age Steppers New Age Steppers were a dub collective from the United Kingdom, formed by producer Adrian Sherwood and featuring members of various prominent 1970s UK post-punk groups, including Ari Up and Viv Albertine of the Slits, Mark Stewart and Bruce Smi ...

, and played on their self-titled 1981 debut album. She appeared as a guest guitarist on the

Flying Lizards The Flying Lizards were an experimental English new wave band, formed in 1976. They are best known for their eccentric cover version of Barrett Strong's " Money", featuring Deborah Evans-Stickland on lead vocals, which reached the UK and US r ...

' debut album, as well as

Singers & Players Singers & Players were a reggae collective made up of vocalists and musicians associated with Adrian Sherwood's On-U Sound Records. They recorded five albums between 1981 and 1988. Including artists such as Bim Sherman, Prince Far I and Mikey D ...

' 1982 album, ''Revenge of the Underdog''. In 2009, Albertine began performing as a solo artist. Her debut gig was at the Windmill in

Brixton Brixton is a district in south London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th centu ...

on 20 September 2009. She went on to tour the US, opening for the Raincoats. In March 2010, she released a four-song debut solo EP entitled, ''Flesh'', on Thurston Moore's

Ecstatic Peace! Ecstatic Peace! is a record label based in Easthampton, Massachusetts, founded in 1981 by American musician Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth. The label name is borrowed from a line in Tom Wolfe's 1968 nonfiction novel '' The Electric Kool-Aid Aci ...

label. Albertine recorded a cover version of David Bowie's "

Letter to Hermione ''David Bowie'' (commonly known as ''Space Oddity'') is the second studio album by English musician David Bowie. After the commercial failure of his 1967 self-titled debut album, Bowie acquired a new manager, Kenneth Pitt, who commissioned a ...

" 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. On 17 June 2013, she opened for Siouxsie Sioux at the Royal Festival Hall in London. 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."

Film and television career

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 MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

throughout most of the 1980s and 1990s. "Ghosts Of American Astronauts" by the

Mekons The Mekons are a British band formed in the late 1970s as an art collective. They are one of the longest-running and most prolific of the first-wave British punk rock bands. The band's style has evolved over time to incorporate aspects of ...

, for example. Her freelance directing work included stints with the

and the

. 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 Joanna Hogg (born 20 March 1960) is a British film director and screenwriter. She made her directorial and screenwriting feature film debut in 2007 with ''Unrelated'' followed by ''Archipelago'' (2010) and ''Exhibition'' (2013). Two of her film ...

on the soundtrack to Hogg's 2010 film '' Archipelago''. In 2013, Albertine starred in Hogg's 2013 film '' Exhibition'', alongside Tom Hiddleston and

Liam Gillick Liam Gillick (born 1964, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire) is a British artist who lives and works in New York City.

. The film premiered at the

Locarno Film Festival The Locarno Film Festival is an annual film festival, held every August in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narrative, documentary, sh ...

in August 2013, and was released on DVD in 2014.

Writing

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 Thomas Dunne Books was an imprint of St. Martin's Press, which is a division of Macmillan Publishers. From 1986 until April 2020, it published popular trade fiction and nonfiction. History The imprint signed David Irving, a scholar, for a Joseph ...

. 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. Her second memoir ''To Throw Away Unopened'' was published by Faber and Faber in May 2018. The book describes the complex relationship between Albertine and her mother. The title is taken from a note pinned to a bag left behind by her mother after her death. 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.

Personal life

Albertine married in 1995, and gave birth to a daughter, Vida, in 1999. After seventeen years of marriage, the pair divorced. Albertine currently lives in

Hackney, London Hackney is a district in East London, England, forming around two-thirds of the area of the modern London Borough of Hackney, to which it gives its name. It is 4 miles (6.4 km) northeast of Charing Cross and includes part of the Queen ...

. Albertine is on the

autism spectrum The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

Discography

;As a solo artist * ''The Vermillion Border'' (2012) ;with The Slits * '' Cut'' (1979) * '' Bootleg Retrospective'' (1980) * '' Return of the Giant Slits'' (1981)

Bibliography

* ''Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys'' (2014) * ''To Throw Away Unopened'' (2018)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Albertine, Viv 1954 births Living people British punk rock musicians English women singer-songwriters English women guitarists English guitarists English memoirists English television directors Women new wave singers Musicians from London Musicians from Sydney People on the autism spectrum Alumni of Chelsea College of Arts The Slits members British women memoirists Australian emigrants to England Expatriates in England English people of Swiss descent English people of French descent British people of Corsican descent Australian people of Swiss descent Australian people of French descent British women television directors Women punk rock singers