SMITH, PATTI

born Dec. 30, 1946, Chicago, Ill., U.S. in full Patti Lee Smith American poet, rock songwriter, and singer. Growing up in New Jersey, Smith won an art scholarship to Glassboro State Teachers College. In 1967 she moved to New York City, where she became active in the downtown Manhattan arts scene, writing poetry and living with the photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. Her highly inflected poetry readings soon took on a musical component, and from 1971 she worked regularly with the guitarist and critic Lenny Kaye. By 1973 they had formed a band and began performing widely on the . Smith's mesmeric charisma, chantlike but hoarsely compelling musical declamation, visionary texts, and simple but ingenious rock music won her an intense cult following. Signed to a contract with Arista Records, she released her first album, Horses, in 1975; it was produced by John Cale, the Welsh avant-gardist and cofounder (with Lou Reed) of the Velvet Underground. Her purest, truest album, it characterized her live shows better than any subsequent LP. Later albums of the 1970s moved in a more commercial direction, with a pounding big beat that bludgeoned away some of her subtlety; at the same time, her concerts often became sloppy and undisciplined. After Radio Ethiopia (1976) she released her most commercially successful album, Easter, in 1978. It included a hit single, Because the Night, written with Bruce Springsteen. Following the album Wave in 1979, Smith disbanded her group and retired to Detroit, Michigan, where she raised a family with Fred (Sonic) Smith, founder of the band MC5. Although she recorded an album with her husband in 1988 (Dream of Life) and began working on new songs with him a few years later, it was only after his sudden death from a heart attack in 1994 that her comeback began in earnest. Gone Again, her first solo album in 17 years, appeared in 1996, followed by Peace and Noise in 1997 and Gung Ho (2000). If anything, this late work showed her stronger than ever, full of the old fire but purged of her more extreme excesses. Although she never topped the charts, Smith had an enormous role in American rock in general and New York rock in particular. A pioneer in the fusion of the bohemian sensibility with rock and a powerful role model for women, she also helped precipitate punk rock in New York, London, Los Angeles, and beyond. She was able to translate the incantatory power of Beat writers like Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs into the rock mainstream and sustained her calling as a poet throughout her rock stardom. John Rockwell Additional reading Patti Smith, Patti Smith (1977), is a collection of poems and sheet music; and Patti Smith Complete: Lyrics, Reflections & Notes for the Future (1998) combines all her lyrics to date with her own annotations and photographs by Annie Liebovitz and Robert Mapplethorpe among others. Dusty Roach, Patti Smith: Rock & Roll Madonna (1979), is a popular photo book. Profiles of her may be found in Lucy O'Brien, She Bop: The Definitive History of Women in Rock, Pop, and Soul (1995), pp. 111117; and Deborah Frost, Patti Smith, in Barbara O'Dair (ed.), Trouble Girls: The Rolling Stone Book of Women in Rock (1997), pp. 269275. Representative Works: Poetry Discography