Viv Albertine is a musician and filmmaker associated with the London punk scene. She is born in Sydney and grows up in North London, in Muswell Hill, where she attends comprehensive school and later studies at art school.

Early life and formation

Albertine has a French/Corsican father and a Swiss mother. As a teenager, her interests include records, clothes, boys, art and English. At 17 she goes to art school, later drops out, and works at Dingwalls, the Camden Town music venue. At another art school she meets Mick Jones and sees the first Sex Pistols show. She also buys Horses by Patti Smith and later uses money left to her by her grandmother to buy a Les Paul Junior guitar.

Musical career

Albertine forms The Flowers of Romance with Sid Vicious, Sarah and Palmolive; John Lydon gives the group its name. She starts learning guitar and is taught by Keith Levene, whom she has known since childhood. Levene helps shape her approach to guitar, including the idea that any sounds can work together. Johnny Thunders teaches her “screamers”, and Joe Strummer shows her how to tap her foot and play at the same time.

She later sees The Slits play their first show and telephones them the next day. The band then gets together, and Albertine back-combs their hair in a style inspired by The New York Dolls so that they look like a band. She is a member of The Slits, The Flowers of Romance and The 49 Americans.

After The Slits

After her time with The Slits, Albertine studies film school and does not drop out. She directs work for about ten years, then turns to sculpture and to writing, recording and performing her own songs.