Frances Sokolov (20 June 1935 – 19 February 2016), better known by her stage name Vi Subversa, was the lead singer, lyricist and rhythm guitarist of British

anarcho-punk Anarcho-punk (also known as anarchist punk or peace punk) is an ideological subgenre of punk rock that promotes anarchism. Some use the term broadly to refer to any punk music with anarchist lyrical content, which may figure in crust punk, ha ...

band Poison Girls.

Biography

Subversa was born of

Ashkenazi Jewish Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...

parents. She spent two years in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

in the late 1950s working in a ceramic pottery in

Beersheba Beersheba ( / ; ), officially Be'er-Sheva, is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the centre of the fourth-most populous metropolitan area in Israel, the eighth-most p ...

under Nehemia Azaz, before returning to the United Kingdom. She had two children, Pete Fender (born Daniel Sansom, 1964) and Gem Stone (born Gemma Sansom, 1967), who both became members of the punk bands

Fatal Microbes Fatal Microbes were an English punk rock band formed in 1978. The main line-up of the band consisted of Honey Bane on vocals, Gem Stone on drums, Pete Fender on guitar and Scotty Barker on bass. The band's name is regarded as a reference to t ...

and

Rubella Ballet Rubella Ballet are an English Gothic rock, gothic anarcho-punk band formed in 1979, who released several albums before splitting up in 1991. They reformed in 2000. History The band was formed by drummer Sid Truelove (born Grant Carol, 18 April ...

.Glasper, Ian (2006) ''The Day the Country Died: A History of Anarcho Punk 1980 - 1984'', Cherry Red Books, Subversa's first public performance was at The Body Show at Sussex University in 1975. In 1979, at 44 years old and a mother of two, she released her first single with the Poison Girls. Her lyrics were written from a radical feminist punk perspective. She is featured in the documentary film ''She's a Punk Rocker''. Subversa's last musical venture was with the cabaret trio Vi Subversa's Naughty Thoughts, which she formed with Michael Coates and Judy Bayley. She played her final live performance with Naughty Thoughts at Brighton's Green Door Store on 5 December 2015, with The Cravats. Subversa's son Pete Fender announced on Facebook on 19 February 2016 that she had died, following a short illness.

References

External links

vi subversa - what a life
Official Poison Girls Website 1935 births 2016 deaths 20th-century anarchists 20th-century British guitarists 20th-century British Jews 20th-century British women singers 21st-century anarchists 21st-century British guitarists 21st-century British Jews 21st-century British women singers Anarcha-feminists Anarcho-punk musicians Artists from Beersheba British anarchists British Ashkenazi Jews British expatriates in Israel British feminists British political music artists British punk rock guitarists British women punk rock singers Feminist musicians Jewish anarchists Jewish English musicians Jewish women singers Jews in punk rock Musicians from Brighton Musicians from London Radical feminists {{UK-singer-stub