Patti Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist. She became a high influential part of the New York City punk rock scene after the release of her 1975 album Horses.
Smith was a tomboy as a child, experiencing gender confusion because she did not fit in with the social expectations of femininity. She preferred the company of men and activities that are typically described as ‘girly’. When her high school art teacher showed her depictions of women by famous artists that reflected her own body, it freed her. She kept paintings by Modigliani and Picasso amongst others and finally found something that represented her, ripping their images out of books and using them to pose in front of the mirror. Smith also developed a love of music while at high school and and performed school plays and musicals.
After graduating high school, Smith began work in a toy factory, the experience would later be described in her first single “Piss Factory”. In the fall, she briefly enrolled at Glassboro State Teachers College (now Rowan University) intending to become a high school art teacher but left before completing the course. In 1967, Smith moved to New York City intending to become an artist. She took a job in a Manhattan bookstore and met photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, whom she had an intense romantic relationship with. They lived together from 1967–74 and struggled with poverty and Mapplethorpe’s sexuality. After Mapplethorpe realised he was gay they maintained a close relationship and artistic partnership. His photographs of her would become the covers for the Patti Smith Group LPs.
Smith chose to focus on performance poetry and became a member of the St. Mark’s Poetry Project. On February 10, 1971, at St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery she gave her first public reading with guitar accompaniment from Lenny Kaye. The performance introduced her as an up-and-coming figure in the New York arts circle. She also performed for one night only in ‘Cowboy Mouth’, a play she co-wrote with Sam Shepard. In 1972 she published her first book of poetry, Seventh Heaven. It was well received but didn’t sell well. She published two further collections Early Morning Dream (1972) and Witt (1973) which were also highly praised.
In 1974 Smith decided to experiment with setting her poetry to music, she formed a band and recorded her first single “Piss Factory”, which is thought of as ‘the first true punk song’ and earned her a sizeable following. She landed a record deal with Arista Records the next year and released her debut album, Horses the same year. The album, considered the definitive early punk rock album, was a huge success and featured the singles “Gloria” and “Land of a Thousand Dances”. It is frequently included on lists of the best albums of all time.
Smith chose to credit her band for her next three albums, releasing them under the name ‘the Patti Smith Group’. By her third album, Easter she achieved commercial success with the hit single “Because the Night,” co-written by Smith and Bruce Springsteen. Her fourth album, Wave was not as successful and following her marriage to MC5 guitarist Fred “Sonic” Smith she mostly disappeared from the public eye for 17 years. In 1988 she released Dream of Life, a collaboration with her husband which sold badly despite the fact it featured one of Smith’s most iconic singles, “People Have the Power.”
Smith returned to music after the death of her husband and in 1996 released her comeback album ‘Gone Again’. She has continued to release highly praised albums since then, showing that she can evolve with the times and still appeals to rock fans even after 11 albums. She is one of the pioneers of punk rock music and redefined the role of female rock stars. In 2010 she published her memoir ‘Just Kids’ which became a NY Times bestseller and received a National Book Award. Smith continues to influence musicians and has inspired The Smiths, Shirley Manson of Garbage, Courtney Love and Madonna as well along with many others.