voc, g, 1935-2016 GB, London
Singer / Musician of Alternative
A.k.a. Francis Sokolov Sansom
Vi Subversa real name Frances Sokolov Sansom [born 20 June 1935 - died 19th February 2016] was the singer and guitarist of UK anarcho-punk band Poison Girls. She was born of East-European Jewish parents. She spent two years in Israel in the late 1950s, before returning to the UK. She has two children, Pete Fender [born Daniel Sansom, 1964] and Gem Stone [born Gemma Sansom, 1967] who were both members of the punk bands Fatal Microbes and Rubella Ballet. Vi's first public singing was on her 40th birthday with a collective of musicians including formative members of Poison Girls as part of The Body Show at Sussex University in 1975. By then a key figure in Brighton UK's burgeoning music underground, the previously fluid group of players including Vi formed poison girls in 1977. In 1979, at 44 years old and a mother of two, Vi Subversa released the first single with the Poison Girls. Her lyrics are written from a radical feminist punk perspective. She is featured in the documentary film She's a Punk Rocker