- Ari Up
Infobox musical artist
Name = Ari Up
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Ariane Forster
Alias = Baby Ari, Madussa
Born =17 January 1962 (aged 46)Munich ,Germany
Died =
Origin =
Instrument = Vocals
Genre =Punk rock Reggae
DubTechno -Dancehall
Occupation =Musician
Years_active = 1976 – present
Label =
Associated_acts =The Slits Nina Hagen
New Age Steppers
URL = [http://www.ariup.com/ www.ariup.com]Ari Up (born
January 17 ,1962 ) is thestage name for the lead vocalist of the English punk group,The Slits .Career
Ari Up (Ariana Forster) was born in
Munich ,Germany on17 January 1962 [http://www3.sympatico.ca/h.gagnon/Slits/ari.htm Ari Up bio] , the granddaughter of a wealthy German newspaper proprietor ("Der Spiegel "). Ari's mother, Nora, was known in the music industry, as she was a friend ofJimi Hendrix , and datedChris Spedding for three years. Nora would later date and marry theSex Pistols ' lead singer,John Lydon . Their home was known to be something of a punk domain, where Nora would take in poor musicians. The constant presence of punk music led to Ari experimenting in it herself.Ari Up was only fourteen when she formed
The Slits with drummer Palmolive in 1976. Ari's love ofreggae led The Slits into a "jungly", dub style. She was the most flamboyant member of the group. Her wild hair and crazy stage outfits became her trademarks. She can be seen briefly inThe Clash movie, "Rude Boy", with the band backstage.After The Slits split in 1981, she moved to
Jamaica to start a family. Later she lived inBelize and New York. She continued to make music, first with the New Age Steppers, then solo as Baby Ari, Madussa, and Ari Up.Despite growing up in England, Ari possesses an unusual accent which is the result of a cross between German and Jamaican.
Her first full length solo album entitled "Dread More Dan Dead" was released in 2005.
Current activities
In 2006 Ari reformed The Slits with original bass player
Tessa Pollitt . They released an EP "Return of the Giant Slits" and have since toured inEurope ,North America ,Australia , andJapan . She occasionally plays solo concerts in New York, and has toured the UK with her backing band 'The True Warriors'She has also recorded with the Jammyland All Stars, and the German
techno -dancehall outfit,Terranova .Ari appeared on the
Lee "Scratch" Perry 's 2008 album, "Repentance", [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=2007-12-07|accessdate=2007-12-07] and performs a duet on acover version ofThe Yardbirds 'song "Mister You're a Better Man Than I" on Mark Stewart's forthcoming album "Edit".ee also
*
The Slits References
* [http://www.comnet.ca/~rina/ari.html Ari Up] - last accessed on
October 30 2005 External links
* [http://www.ari-up.com/ www.ari-up.com] Official site originally maintained by Baron Dakota, who died in 2005
* [http://www.ariup.com/ www.ariup.com] Official site maintained by Tanusound, who produced her solo record
* [http://www.theslits.co.uk/ www.theslits.co.uk] Official site of the Slits
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