Alison Nicole Mosshart (born November 23, 1978) is an American singer, songwriter, artist, and the lead vocalist for the rock bands The Kills and The Dead Weather. She started her musical career in 1995 with the Florida punk rock band Discount which disbanded in 2000. She then co-founded the Kills with British guitarist Jamie Hince (formerly of Scarfo and Blyth Power) in 2000 in London. In The Kills' first album, Mosshart was known by her stage name "VV" and Hince was known as "Hotel". In early 2009, she joined the supergroup The Dead Weather, formed by Jack White, along with Jack Lawrence and Dean Fertita. In that band, her stage name is "Baby Ruthless." Musical career Discount Mosshart formed pop-punk band Discount (for which she was the singer) at the age of 17 with skateboarding friends in Vero Beach, Florida. The band recorded their first album, Ataxia's Alright Tonight when the band members were still in high school, and began touring aggressively throughout the DIY punk underground in North America and Europe. As a front-person, Mosshart distinguished herself through her intense, erratic, and earnest stage presence. Discount's subsequent album, Half Fiction, was subsequently named the 50th Greatest Pop-Punk Album of all time by Rolling Stone magazine. The band , and released their final album, Crash Diagnostic in 2000. The album reflected a move toward more angular sounds and detached lyrics than the emotionally frank pop-punk of the previous two albums. After touring in support of the album, the band played their last show in Gainesville in August 2000. The Kills Before the two even met, Mosshart, while on tour with Discount, overheard Hince playing music in a squat above where she and the band were staying. She finally approached him, after which they started playing around with some music ideas. After she went back to Florida, she continued writing songs with Hince, by sending her ideas overseas to London where he lived. She became very exhausted and ill, so after saving money, Mosshart moved to London and the duo officially started. She has tattooed the date of their first concert on her left hand: 14 February 2002. In 2003, The Kills released their first album Keep on Your Mean Side. In 2005, they released their follow-up album No Wow. In 2008, Midnight Boom was released, and singles "U R A Fever", "Cheap and Cheerful", and "Sour Cherry" got much more