Patti Smith | Artist

Patricia Lee 'Patti' Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet, and visual artist born 1946 in Chicago, Illinois. She became influential in the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 masterpiece debut album Horses with Lenny Kaye on guitar and produced by John Cale. Called the "punk poet laureate" Smith fuses poetry in her rock/post-punk work. After High School she attended College briefly before dropping out and travelling to Paris with her sister, where the two started busking and doing performance art. When Smith returned to Manhattan, she lived at the Hotel Chelsea with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. They frequented Max's Kansas City on Park Avenue, and Smith provided the spoken word soundtrack for Sandy Daley's art film Robert Having His Nipple Pierced, starring Mapplethorpe. Mapplethorpe was an important artistic inspiration to Smith and they remained lifelong friends until Mapplethorpe's death in 1989. Mapplethorpe's photographs of Smith became the covers for the Patti Smith Group albums. Smith frequented NYC's CBGBs and Max's Kansas City clubs, and fell in with the burgeoning punk new-wave rock scene. By 1974, Patti Smith was performing rock music, initially with guitarist, bassist and rock archivist Lenny Kaye and later with a full band comprising Kaye (guitar), Ivan Kral (guitar, bass), Jay Dee Daugherty (drums) and Richard Sohlon (piano). Smith was romantically involved with Allen Lanier, Blue Öyster Cult's keyboardist and was briefly considered as lead singer for the band. She contributed lyrics to several Blue Öyster Cult songs, including "Debbie Denise", "Baby Ice Dog", "Career of Evil", "Fire of Unknown Origin", "The Revenge of Vera Gemini", on which she performs duet vocals, and "Shooting Shark". During these years, Smith was also a rock music journalist, writing periodically for Rolling Stone and Creem magazine. In March 1975 the Patti Smith Group began a two-month weekend set of shows at CBGB in New York City with the band Television. The group was spotted by Clive Davis, who signed them to Arista Records. Later that year they recorded their debut album Horses produced by John Cale. The album fused punk rock and spoken poetry and begins with a cover of Van Morrison's "Gloria", and Smith's opening words: "Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine", an excerpt from one of her early poems. The austere cover photograph by Mapplethorpe has become one of rock's classic images. Horses is a masterpiece of its time, and the Patti Smith Group went on to record three more excellent albums. By the 1980's Smith began working as a soloist, and has released a further 11 albums to-date, the last four being collaborations with electronic tribal-ambient group Soundwalk Collective. Standout albums include Horses (1975), Radio Ethiopia (1976), Easter (1978), Wave (1979), Gone Again (1996) and Trampin' (2004). The 2002 compilation Land (1975-2002) is an excellent collection of album tracks, outtakes, live tracks and other unreleased material. Smith continues recording and performing and has authored many books including poetry and semi-autobiographical works. In 1980 Patti married Fred "Sonic" Smith, former guitarist for Detroit rock band MC5, who died in 1995. Fred and Patti's son Jackson married White Stripes' drummer Meg White, making Patti, Meg's mother-in-law. They also had a daughter, Jesse Paris, who is a musician and composer.

Artist Website: pattismith.net

Featured Albums: Patti Smith

Related Artists: MC5, Robert Mapplethorpe

Collections: Women of Note