Adele Bertei is a renaissance artist whose fearless creativity has shaped underground culture for decades. Born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1955, she moved to New York in 1977 and became a pivotal figure in the No Wave movement. An original member of the Contortions, included on the seminal No New York album produced by Brian Eno, Bertei also starred in underground films including
Born In Flames by Lizzie Borden; opened for writers like William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, and Kathy Acker; and toured with the Bloods—America’s first openly queer all-girl band. She’s the author of
No New York.