Patti Smith

This singer/songwriter/poet first gained attention with her 1975 album Horses, which was released with the help of record-producing legend Clive Davis. Her career has only seen the release of one Top 20 single, and her name has not yet been added to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Nevertheless, her influence should not be underestimated, and Rolling Stone placed her at #47 in their list of The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

Patti Smith was born on December 30, 1946 in Chicago, Illinois. Raised in New Jersey, she dropped out of high school at the age of 16 and was employed as a factory worker before attending Teachers College. After giving birth to a child which was given up for adoption, she moved to New York, then worked as a busker and performance artist for a time before returning to the Big Apple.

The early 1970’s saw Smith involved in a variety of artistic endeavors, including painting, performing spoken poetry, and writing songs. By 1974, she recorded two singles with her entourage of male band mates, and a year later The Patti Smith Group released Horses with the help of Clive Davis of Arista Records. Considered one of rock’s greatest debut albums, the record featured a cover of Van Morrison’s classic “Gloria.”

The album’s unique blending of punk and rock made punk more accessible to and popular with mainstream audiences as the singer and her group toured throughout the US and Europe. Encouraged by the acceptance, Radio Ethiopia, the group’s second release, boasted an edgier sound, but received poor critical reviews.

Easter and Wave followed, the first being the most commercially successful album and containing the single “Because the Night,” which was co-written with Bruce Springsteen and rose to #13 on the charts.

After retreating from the public eye and semi-retiring from music throughout most of the 80’s, she released Dream of Life in 1988. The album was well-received but didn’t contain the edgy, punk influence that made her previous efforts so unique.

In 1994, the singer suffered two major personal blows when her husband and brother both died unexpectedly. She sought help for her problems and has since become a major supporter of psychiatric treatment. Her friends REM’s Michael Stipe and poet Allen Ginsberg urged her to continue her musical pursuits, and she toured briefly with Bob Dylan in 1995. The emotional tour signaled Patti’s re-emergence into the world of music. Just one year later, she released Gone Again, which featured a tribute to Kurt Cobain, and has since released three new albums. The latest effort, Trampin’, was released in 2004 and the critically acclaimed compilation returned the artist to the Billboard Top 200.

She has been nominated for an induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame seven times, but has yet to receive the required votes.

Throughout the years, this punk poetess has been involved in several doomed relationships. Controversial photographer Robert Mapplethorpe was Patti’s lover for a time, in spite of his homosexual activities. They remained close friends until he died from AIDS complications in 1989. Poet Jim Carroll and punk singer/songwriter Tom Verlaine were two of Smith’s other love interests.

Her marriage to Fred Smith met a tragic end in 1994 when he suffered a sudden and fatal heart attack at the age of forty. The couple had children Jesse and Jackson during their marriage. Jackson is currently a guitarist with the Michigan band Back In Spades.