Ari Up, German-born British punk musician (The Slits), died from cancer she was 48

Ariane Daniele Forster , better known by her stage name Ari Up,  died from cancer she was  48 was a German-born vocalist, best-known as a member of the English punk group, The Slits.

(17 January 1962 – 20 October 2010)

 Career

Forster was born in Munich, Germany,^[1][2] the granddaughter of a wealthy German newspaper proprietor. Forster's mother, Nora, was known in the music industry, as she was a friend of Jimi Hendrix and dated Chris Spedding for three years. Ari noted that Jon Anderson, the singer of the group Yes, was her godfather.^[3] Nora would later date and marry the Sex 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 Up experimenting in it herself, learning guitar skills from The Clash's Joe Strummer.^[4]

Ari Up was only fourteen when she formed The Slits with drummer Palmolive in 1976. By the late seventies, they were touring as the opening act for The Clash.^[3] Ari Up's love of reggae 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 in The Clash movie, Rude Boy, with the band backstage. Her 1977 performances with The Slits are featured in The Punk Rock Movie, a 1992 release of various punk group club performances, principally at The Roxy.

After The Slits split in 1981, she moved with her husband and twin children to jungle regions of Indonesia and Belize, living among indigenous people in those areas. Later, they moved to Jamaica, eventually settling in Kingston.^[5] 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 Up possessed an unusual accent, a cross between German, English and Jamaican.^[6] Her first full length solo album entitled Dread More Dan Dead was released in 2005.

Later life and death

In 2006 Ari Up reformed The Slits with original bass player Tessa Pollitt. They released an EP and later toured in Europe, North America, Australia, and Japan. She occasionally played solo concerts in New York, and toured the UK with her backing band 'The True Warriors'.
She also recorded with the Jammyland All Stars, Brave New Girl, Dubistry, and the German techno-dancehall outfit, Terranova.

Ari Up appeared on Lee "Scratch" Perry's 2008 album, Repentance,^[7] and performed a duet on a cover version of The Yardbirds' song "Mister You're a Better Man Than I" on Mark Stewart's 2008 album, Edit. In July 2009, she performed with Perry and Austrian dub band Dubblestandart in Brooklyn, New York just prior to the Central Park SummerStage festival.^[8] One of Ari's last recordings done in May 2010 in New York was on a track with Lee Scratch Perry recorded by Subatomic Sound System and released in August 2010 on 7" vinyl called "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 Up's wishes.^[9]
Ari Up died aged 48 from cancer in Los Angeles on 20 October 2010.^[1] Her death that morning was initially announced on John Lydon's homepage.^[10][11]


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