Vikki Elizabeth Thorn is an Australian harmonica player, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter and one-third of the Australian folk rock bandthe Waifs. Her elder sister, Donna Simpson, also plays guitar and sings in the group. Vikki has released eight studio albums with the Waifs, and wrote the band's singles, "Bridal Train" and "Sun Dirt Water".
Early life and education
Thorn and her elder sister, Donna, grew up in Albany, Western Australia. Their father, Jimmy Simpson, fished salmon in season. In an interview with Andrew Denton on Enough Rope, Thorn described the lifestyle of a fisherman's daughter:
Career
Thorn received her a harmonica when she was a teenager, and started playing Bob Dylan songs. She harmonised Everly Brothers songs with her sister who played guitar. They formed a blues covers duo, Colours, in Albany. On Thorn's last day of high school, aged 16, she was picked up by Donna, in a yellow Kombi, who asked her to travel with her: Thorn and Donna met Josh Cunningham in August 1992 in Broome, the sisters had been travelling across greater Western Australia, playing the blues in rural bars based on what a town's tourist bureau described as the music scene for that area. After less than an hour conversation with Cunningham, Donna asked him to join them in Colours as a trio. Upon return to Albany their "grandmother said 'Oh here come the waifs'" and they decided to rename their trio as the Waifs. The Waifs toured Western Australia from 1993 to 1996. In 1996 they moved to the east coast and made the group a serious music career. In May 1996, their self-titled debut was released, three months after it was recorded. It featured three songs from Thorn: "Circles", "I Believe", and "Company". After touring more throughout the mid-nineties, the band released Shelter Me in 1998, and Sink or Swim in 2000. Sink or Swim was released, and more touring commenced. The Waifs were now becoming an international concern, and popularity increased when Up All Night was released. Shortly after its release, the album was certified 2x platinum in Australia and two successful singles followed: "London Still" and "Lighthouse", written by Thorn's sister Donna and Josh Cunningham, respectively. At the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami relief concert, WaveAid, in January 2005 the Waifs performed with Thorn providing harmonica. Thorn's song "Bridal Train" was released as a single, by the group in 2004, and the song won the USA Songwriting Competition in 2006. The Waifs' fifth studio album, Sun, Dirt, Water, provided a title single, which was written by Thorn. During 2014 Thorn and Donna undertook a side project, Stray Sisters, with Ben Franz on pedal steel and lap steel guitars. Thorn recalled "That was a real different experience for me because usually I play a minimum amount of guitar in the Waifs but when I was in the Stray Sisters I had to play more rhythm, supporting rhythm parts to what Donna was doing. So that was the good thing about it. That challenged me a little bit and I got to play electric guitar." The group's eighth studio album, Ironbark, led Thorn to reflect on their being together for 25 years, "I just sent an email the other day saying 'When the tour's over, when do we celebrate?' We need to have a party, we need to have something where we sit down and celebrate, just have a toast."
Personal life
Vikki Thorn and bandmate, Josh Cunningham, had a romantic relationshipfor 12 years, which according to Thorn "broke down". She also said that "Through all those years of touring, there was that dynamic going on." Thorn wrote the Waifs song, "Sun Dirt Water", for her husband, Matt Thorn, "I wrote the song as a letter to him, just letting him know the things that were important to me and describing the road we were going to travel... It's the last song I wrote, and I wrote it four years ago." The couple have three children and since 2008 reside in Utah.
