Vikki Thorn

Vikki Thorn (née Simpson) is an Australian harmonica player, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter and one-third of the Australian folk rock band The Waifs. Her sister Donna Simpson also plays guitar and sings in the band. Vikki has released six albums with The Waifs, and wrote the band's single "Sun Dirt Water".

Biography

Early life

Thorn and her sister Donna grew up in Albany, Western Australia, and spent their young lives as fisherman's daughters. The girls' father, Jimmy, fished salmon year round. In an interview with Andrew Denton, Thorn described the lifestyle of a fisherman's daughter:

Career

Thorn received her first guitar when she was a teenager, and she started playing Bob Dylan songs and harmonizing Everly Brothers songs with her sister. On Thorn's last day of high school, Vikki was picked up by her sister in a yellow Kombi and asked her to travel with her:

When Vikki and Donna met Josh Cunningham in the early nineties, they had been touring all throughout greater Western Australia, and playing the blues in certain bars based on what the town's tourist bureau described as the music scene for that area. After less than an hour's time the sisters spent with Cunningham, Donna asked him to tour with them. Just like that, The Waifs were formed.