Ari Up

Ari Up was born in Munich, West Germany.{{cite web|url=http://www3.sympatico.ca/h.gagnon/Slits/ari.htm|title=Typical Girls Online - Ari Up|website=www3.sympatico.ca|access-date=26 August 2007|archive-date=9 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121009192249/http://www3.sympatico.ca/h.gagnon/Slits/ari.htm|url-status=dead}} Both her parents were involved in the music industry; her father, Frank Forster, was a German schlager singer who had some success in the 1950s and 1960s, and her mother Nora Forster was a friend of Jimi Hendrix and dated Chris Spedding for three years.{{cite news|title=This is not a love song|first=Lorenz|last=Schröter|date=26 June 2016|url=https://www.swr.de/-/id=17404468/property=download/nid=659934/lgqb0z/swr2-feature-am-sonntag-20160626.pdf|archive-date=7 December 2017|access-date=5 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171207143424/https://www.swr.de/-/id=17404468/property=download/nid=659934/lgqb0z/swr2-feature-am-sonntag-20160626.pdf|url-status=dead}} Ari's maternal grandfather was the German newspaper proprietor Franz Karl Maier, owner of Der Tagesspiegel. Her godfathers were Austrian singer/composer Udo Jürgens{{cite news |last=Oehmke |first=Philipp |title=Pop: Kannst du vergessen |url=http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-134995291.html |newspaper=Der Spiegel |date=16 May 2015 |access-date=5 December 2017}} and Jon Anderson, the singer of the group Yes.{{cite news |last=Moynihan |first=Colin |title=Ari Up, a Founder of the Slits Punk Band, Dies at 48 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/22/arts/music/22ariup.html |url-status=live |newspaper=The New York Times |date=22 October 2010 |access-date=22 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110921032623/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/22/arts/music/22ariup.html |archive-date=21 September 2011}}

Nora Forster married the Sex Pistols' lead singer, John Lydon, in 1979. Their home was a punk domain where Nora would take in poor musicians. The constant presence of punk music led to Ari experimenting with it herself, learning to play the guitar from the Clash's Joe Strummer.{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-gsEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA36|magazine=Billboard|title=Beat Box|first=Michael|last=Paoletta|page=36|date=13 July 2002|access-date=20 October 2010}}

In 1976, at the age of 14, Up formed the Slits with drummer Palmolive.{{cite web| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7tW0ABpqi0 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/I7tW0ABpqi0 |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|title=Viv Albertine | Carpool |date=30 May 2011 |publisher=YouTube |access-date=2013-08-02}}{{cbignore}} Guitarist Viv Albertine joined the group and was impressed by the young singer. "English was her second language", Albertine said in an interview, "it was not easy for her and she had to fight to be taken seriously."{{cite magazine |last=Albertine |first=Viv |date=December 2010 |title=R.I.P. Ari Up |magazine=Maximum Rocknroll |issue=331 |page=35}} She succeeded: "Ari was the most dynamic woman I have ever known", said Albertine. "The way she carried herself was a revolution."

By the late 1970s, the Slits were touring as the opening act for the Clash. Ari Up's love of reggae led the Slits into a "jungly" dub style. She was the most flamboyant member of the group, becoming known for her wild hair and stage outfits. She can be seen briefly in the film Rude Boy (1980), associating with the Clash backstage. Her 1977 performances with the Slits are featured in The Punk Rock Movie (1978), a documentary release of various punk group club performances, principally at The Roxy.

After the Slits disbanded in 1981, Up moved with her boyfriend, Glenmore "Junior" Williams, and twin sons to jungle regions of Indonesia and Belize and lived among indigenous people. They moved to Jamaica and settled in Kingston.{{cite news|url=http://www.montrealmirror.com/2005/063005/music3.html|title=Living dread – The return of punky reggae queen Ari Up|first=Lorraine|last=Carpenter|newspaper=Montreal Mirror|date=30 June 2005|access-date=20 October 2010}} She continued to make music, first with the New Age Steppers, then as a solo artist, using the stage names Baby Ari, Madussa, and Ari Up.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/oct/21/ari-up-obituary?intcmp=239|title=Ari Up obituary|last=Robb|first=John|work=The Guardian|date=21 October 2010|access-date=25 October 2010}} Her third son was born in 1994, although the boy's father had been shot dead by the time he was born.{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/ari-up-rebellious-and-confrontational-singer-with-punk-reggae-band-the-slits-2113240.html|title=Ari Up: Rebellious and confrontational singer with punk-reggae band|date=22 October 2010|website=The Independent}} In 2000, John Lydon and Nora Forster became legal guardians of Up's teenage twin boys; Lydon said, "[Ari Up] let them run free. They couldn't read, write or form proper sentences. One day Ari Up said she couldn't cope with them any more. I suggested they came to us because I wasn’t having them abandoned. They gave us hell, but I loved having kids around."{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/oct/31/john-lydon-my-family-values|title=John Lydon: My family values|last=Wintle|first=Angela|date=31 October 2014|work=The Guardian|access-date=6 October 2016}}

Up's first full-length solo album, Dread More Dan Dead, was released in 2005. She appeared on Lee "Scratch" Perry's Repentance (2008),{{cite news|url=http://tinymixtapes.com/Lee-Scratch-Perry-and-Andrew-WK|title=Lee "Scratch" Perry and Andrew WK: Together at Last!|publisher=Tiny Mix Tapes|last=Jolley|first=John|date=7 December 2007|access-date=2007-12-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071208114542/http://www.tinymixtapes.com/Lee-Scratch-Perry-and-Andrew-WK|archive-date=8 December 2007|url-status=dead}} and performed a duet on a cover version of Mike Hugg's song "Mister, You're a Better Man Than I" on Mark Stewart's Edit (2008).

File:The Slits-10.jpg

In 2008, Ari Up was diagnosed with breast cancer. She refused chemotherapy.{{cite news|url=https://theweek.com/articles/470764/rottens-soft-side|title=Rotten's soft side|date=2 November 2012|work=The Week|access-date=6 October 2016}} Lydon later commented, "Who refuses chemo because they don’t want their Rasta locks cut off? Ariane Forster was just … not sensible. She thought she could cure herself with witch doctors. We spent hundreds of thousands trying to save her, but it was too late." Despite the diagnosis, she performed in July 2009, with Perry and Austrian dub band Dubblestandart in Brooklyn, New York, just before the Central Park SummerStage festival.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.nme.com/awards/video/id/C8_qud04jj0/search/equal|title=Lee Scratch Perry with Dubblestandart and Ari Up|date=18 July 2009|magazine=NME|access-date=21 October 2010}} One of her last recordings took place in May 2010, in New York with Perry. The sessions were recorded by the Subatomic Sound System and released in August 2010 on 7-inch vinyl, titled "Hello, Hell is Very Low" b/w "Bed Athletes." The Slits' final work, the video for the song "Lazy Slam" from Trapped Animal, was released posthumously in accordance with Ari's wishes.{{cite web|url=http://narnackrecords.com/beta/ari-up-r-i-p-1962-2010|title=Ari Up R.I.P. (1962–2010)|publisher=narnackrecords.com|date=21 October 2010|access-date=2009-10-20|archive-date=22 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120722010854/http://narnackrecords.com/ari-up-r-i-p-1962-2010/|url-status=dead}}

On 20 October 2010, Ari Up died in Los Angeles, aged 48.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/ari-up-rebellious-and-confrontational-singer-with-punkreggae-band-the-slits-2113240.html|title=Ari Up: Rebellious and confrontational singer with punk-reggae band the Slits|newspaper=The Independent|first=Chris|last=Salewicz|date=22 October 2010|access-date=22 October 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101023111523/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/ari-up-rebellious-and-confrontational-singer-with-punkreggae-band-the-slits-2113240.html| archive-date= 23 October 2010 | url-status= live}} Her death was initially announced on Lydon's homepage.{{cite news|url=http://blogs.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/2010/10/rip_ari_up_of_the_slits_dead.php|title=R.I.P. Ari Up of the Slits, Dead at 48|newspaper=LA Weekly|date=20 October 2010|access-date=20 October 2010|first=Chris|last=Martins| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101023061223/http://blogs.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/2010/10/rip_ari_up_of_the_slits_dead.php| archive-date= 23 October 2010 | url-status= live}}{{cite web|url=http://www.johnlydon.com/jltalk.html#Arianna|title=Arianna RIP|date=20 October 2010|publisher=John Lydon|access-date=21 October 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110312052447/http://www.johnlydon.com/jltalk.html| archive-date=12 March 2011| url-status= dead}} Lydon and Nora Forster became guardians of Up's third son.

A tribute Punky Reggae Birthday Party was held at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn by Dunia Best, Aram Sinnreich, and Vivien Goldman on 16 January 2011. Neneh Cherry, Tessa Pollitt, Hollie Cook and other former members of the Slits performed, along with members of the True Warriors, New Age Steppers, and other friends and associates.{{cite web |url=http://www.musichallofwilliamsburg.com/event/5724 |title=" White Lies – Tickets – Terminal 5 – New York, NY – May 19th, 2011 |publisher=Musichallofwilliamsburg.com |date=19 May 2011 |access-date=2013-08-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101210110357/http://www.musichallofwilliamsburg.com/event/5724 |archive-date=10 December 2010 |url-status=dead }}

• The Slits – Cut (1979, Island)
• V/A – We Do 'Em Our Way (1980, MFP)
• New Age Steppers – The New Age Steppers (1980, On-U Sound)
• The Slits – Return of the Giant Slits (1981, CBS)
• The Slits – The Peel Sessions (1987, Strange Fruit)
• V/A – Lipstick Traces (1993, Rough Trade)
• V/A – Rough Trade Shop, Post Punk 01 (2xCD, Comp) (2003, Mute)
• Ari Up – True Warrior / I'm Allergic 7-inch (2004, For Us)
• The Slits – Live at the Gibus Club (2005, Earmark)
• Ari Up – Baby Mother 12-inch (2005, Collision: Cause of Chapter 3)
• Ari Up – Dread More Dan Dead (2005, Collision: Cause of Chapter 3)
• V/A – Girl Monster (3xCD, Comp) (2006, Chicks on Speed Records)
• The Slits – Revenge of the Killer Slits 7-inch (2006, S.A.F. Records)
• Dubblestandart vs. Ken Boothe vs. Ari Up – When I Fall in Love / Island Girl 12-inch (2007, Collision: Cause of Chapter 3)
• The Slits – Trapped Animal (2009, Narnack Records)
• Subatomic Sound System Meets Ari Up & Lee "Scratch" Perry – Hello, Hello, Hell Is Very Low / Bed Athletes (7-inch) (2010, Subatomic Sound)
• Ari Up & Vic Ruggiero – Rare Singles and More... (2011, Ska in the World)
• New Age Steppers – Love Forever (2012, On-U Sound)

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.3ammagazine.com/musicarchives/2003/nov/interview_tessa_pollitt.html In depth interview about Ari Up's band, the Slits]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080615142927/http://www.ari-up.com/ www.ariup.com Official website]
• {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080615142927/http://www.ari-up.com |date=15 June 2008 |title=Official website from 2003 }}
• [http://www.supersweet.org/main.aspx?atype=1&aname=Music_Slits&con=1&sc1=0&sc2=0 Ari Up Interview]
• {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110115011538/http://www.mudkiss.com/ariup.htm | date=15 January 2011|title=A personal tribute by Kris Needs}}
• [http://www.laweekly.com/2010-12-16/music/ari-up-punky-reggae-icon L.A. Weekly interview]

{{The Slits}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ari Up}}

Category:1962 births

Category:2010 deaths

Category:Deaths from breast cancer in California

Category:German punk rock singers

Category:German stabbing survivors

Category:German women punk rock singers

Category:German Rastafarians

Category:Feminist musicians

Category:Musicians from Munich

Category:Post-punk musicians

Category:West German emigrants

Category:Immigrants to Jamaica

Category:20th-century German musicians

Category:The Slits members

Category:20th-century German women singers