15 Facts About Viv Albertine

Viviane Katrina Louise Albertine was born on 1 December 1954 and is an Australian-born English musician, singer, songwriter and writer.

Viv Albertine is best known as the guitarist for the punk band the Slits from 1977 until 1982, with whom she recorded two studio albums.

Viv Albertine was born in Sydney to an English mother of partial Swiss ancestry and a Corsican father.

Viv Albertine was brought up in north London, attended comprehensive school in Muswell Hill, and at the age of 17 enrolled in Hornsey School of Art.

Viv Albertine joined the Slits as the band's guitarist after founding member Kate Korus left.

Viv Albertine was hesitant to join an all female band, but she changed her mind after her friend Chrissie Hynde told her to 'shut up and get on with it'.

Viv Albertine became part of Adrian Sherwood's dub-influenced collective New Age Steppers, and played on their self-titled 1981 debut album.

Viv Albertine went on to tour the US, opening for the Raincoats.

Viv Albertine recorded a cover version of David Bowie's "Letter to Hermione" for the Bowie tribute album, We Were So Turned On: A Tribute to David Bowie, which was released on 6 September 2010.

Viv Albertine worked as a director, mostly for television and making promos and videos for bands, many of which were used on UK MTV throughout most of the 1980s and 1990s, for example, "Ghosts of American Astronauts" by the Mekons.

Viv Albertine's freelance directing work included stints with the BBC and the British Film Institute.

In 1991, Viv 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 2013, Viv Albertine starred in Hogg's 2013 film Exhibition, alongside Tom Hiddleston and Liam Gillick.

Viv 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 Viv Albertine read in full, and ultimately incorporated into her own memoir.

Viv Albertine married in 1991 and gave birth to a daughter, Vida, in 1999.