Ari (short for Ariana) Forster was born to be a punk diva: her mother Nora was a friend of Jimi Hendrix and Chris Spedding's girlfriend for three years (Spedding was heard to complain about the difficulties of writing songs with Nora's twelve-year-old daughter practicing the piano in the next room). Also, at the time that the Slits first got together as a band, Nora was dating none other than John Lydon, whom she eventually married (they remain married to this day). Coming of age in this milieu certainly influenced the young and impressionable Ari to dabble in punk herself; it didn't hurt to have the infamous Johnny Rotten as her soon-to-be step-dad, and mother Nora even became part manager of the Slits later on.

Daughter of a wealthy German newspaper proprietor, Nora got married when she was seventeen, had Ari, then left her husband and the European jet set for the rock milieu. Her comfortable flat in Shepherds Bush became became known to be something of a punk domain, fueled by her willingness to cook for starving musicians on the dole; it was there that Joe Strummer (of the Clash) gave Ari her first guitar lesson.

Ari was only fourteen when the Slits first got together; Palmolive and Kate Korus had met her at a Patti Smith concert and invited her to the band's lead singer. By the time of the infamous White Riot tour of 1977 (with the Clash and the Subway Sect), Ari had turned fifteen.

Ari was the most flamboyant member of the group, with her wild, teased mane of hair and her wacky outfits: one of her favorites consisted of Silver Jubilee underwear worn over shiny skin-tight trousers with a studded belt and short cowboy boots; another was a crotch-high mini-skirt worn with rosebud printed underwear underneath. And her vocal style was, to say the least, all her own: she wailed, she screeched, she shouted, she yelled -- whatever else was said about her, you couldn't call her stage presence boring.

Fast-forward a couple of decades: these days, Ari is living in Jamaica with her family; she's still making music.

She is a born performer...She is blatantly sexy, although such is her impact that many straight men told me they thought she was ugly -- a fact that pleases Ari immensely...She exudes the raunchy innocence of a futuristic Medusa-Lolita...In her role as a punk model she is unique.

- Caroline Coon, from 1988 : the New Wave Punk Rock Explosion

Ari Up photos by Philippe Carly (part of the New Wave Photos by Philippe Carly Website)

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