Viviane Katrina Louise Albertine (born 1 December 1954)[1][2] is an Australian-born English musician, singer, songwriter and writer.

Following the Slits' break-up in 1982, Albertine studied filmmaking and subsequently worked as a freelance director for the BBC and British Film Institute.

After a lengthy break from performing and recording music, Albertine released her sole solo studio album, The Vermilion Border, in 2012.

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

[3] After completing a foundation course at Hornsey, she went to Chelsea School of Art to study fashion and textile design.

She 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'.

[5] While continuing as a key member of the Slits, Albertine contributed guitar and vocal work to the 49 Americans' 1980 album E Pluribus Unum.

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

[8] In March 2010, she released a four-song debut solo EP entitled, Flesh, on Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace!

She 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.

[citation needed] In 2013, Albertine starred in Hogg's 2013 film Exhibition, alongside Tom Hiddleston and Liam Gillick.