Ari Up

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Ari Up, born Ariane Forster on 17 January 1962 in Munich, was a German singer, best known from the British punk group The Slits. Her father was a schlager singer; her mother, Nora Forster, was a friend of Jimi Hendrix and married John Lydon of the Sex Pistols in 1979. At home, in her mother's house, she came into contact with punk. Joe Strummer of The Clash taught her to play the guitar. In 1976, at the age of fourteen, she founded The Slits with the drummer Palmolive. The guitarist Viv Albertine joined later.

Music and breakthrough

At the end of the 1970s The Slits toured as the support act for The Clash. Ari Up's love of reggae led the group towards a jungle-like dub style. She was the most striking member, with her wild hair and clothes. After the group broke up in 1981 she lived with her family in Indonesia and Belize and then in Kingston, Jamaica. There she made music with the New Age Steppers and as a soloist under the names Baby Ari, Madussa and Ari Up. Her first solo album Dread More Dan Dead came in 2005, followed later by Return From Planet Dub in 2009 and Rare Singles and More in 2011. She also contributed to Lee Scratch Perry's Repentance in 2008.

Influence

Ari Up died on 20 October 2010 in Los Angeles, aged 48, of breast cancer. She showed that punk could also be open to reggae and dub, and that a young woman could take the lead in doing so.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• 2005Dread More Dan Dead
• 2009Return From Planet Dub
• 2011Rare Singles and More...