Ari Up passes away at 48

The influential frontwoman of UK punk band The Slits has died at 48 years old. 

According to her stepfather and Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten), Ari Up died on Wednesday after suffering from an undisclosed "serious illness".

Born Ariane Daniele Forster, Ari Up lived an astonishing life amongst the forebears of the English punk movement. She learnt her guitar skills from punk icon Joe Strummer of The Clash, and formed the all-female punk outfit The Slits in 1976.

Forster was only 14 years old when she joined the band who released their debut record "Cut" in 1979, after which she steadily became a punk icon. The Slits released two more albums in the early 1980s and gradually infused more reggae elements into their music before breaking up in 1981. Up relocated to Kingston, Jamaica, and later joined post-punk outfit the New Age Steppers and released several solo albums as Madussa. In 2006 The Slits reunited and released another album, "Trapped Animal", in 2009.

Though the band never achieved the widespread fame of male punk groups, the spirit of The Slits was a strong influence on the feminist-punk Riot Grrrl movement. Wrote former Sleater-Kinney guitarist Carrie Brownstein on NPR.com: "Not once did a Slits song cease to amaze me.... Not once did they fail to excite or inspire me, to make me a worshipper of rhythm, chaos and of attitude."

Forster is survived by her mother and three sons, Pablo, Pedro and Wilton.