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Patricia Lee ("Patti") Smith (born poetry performance style with Garage-band Rock & Roll ; her allusions introduced 19th Century French poetry to American teens, while her androgynous public persona and unladylike language defied the Disco era. From the underground, Patti Smith has become one of rock and roll's most influential musicians. Smith's commercial success has been limited in that she has never had an Ben Sisario, Jan. 8, 2007, ''The New York Times'', "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Backs New Members", available at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/08/arts/music/08cnd-rock.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print .. BEGINNINGS Early life in Chicago and New Jersey Smith was born in '', June 27 , 1999 . Accessed August 4 , 2007 . New York City In 1967 she left New Jersey for good, moved to New York City and met photographer Robert Mapplethorpe while working at a book store. Mapplethorpe's photographs became the covers for the Patti Smith Group LPs, and they remained friends until Mapplethorpe's death in 1989. In 1969 she went to Paris with her sister and started Busking and doing Performance Art . When Smith returned to New York City , she lived in the Chelsea Hotel with Mapplethorpe; they frequented the fashionable Max's Kansas City and CBGB nightclubs. In 1969 Smith appeared with Wayne County in Jackie Curtis 's play "Femme Fatale". As a member of the St. Mark's Poetry Project , she spent the early '70s painting, writing, and performing. In 1971 she performed – for one night only – in Sam Shepard 's "Cowboy Mouth," (the published play's notes call for "a man who looks like a coyote and a woman who looks like a crow"). She collaborated with Allen Lanier of Blue Öyster Cult , who recorded several of the songs to which Smith had contributed, including "Debbie Denise" (after her poem "In Remembrance of Debbie Denise"), "Career of Evil," "Fire of Unknown Origin," "The Revenge of Vera Gemini," and "Shooting Shark." During these years, Smith also wrote rock Journalism , and was published in " Creem " magazine. EARLY CAREER By 1974, however, Patti Smith was performing Rock Music herself, initially with guitarist and rock archivist Lenny Kaye , and later with a full band comprising Kaye, Ivan Kral ( Guitar ), Jay Dee Daugherty ( Drums ) and Richard Sohl ( Piano ). Financed by Robert Mapplethorpe, the band recorded a first single, "Piss Factory/ Hey Joe ," in 1974. The A-side describes the helpless anger Smith had felt while working on a factory assembly line and the salvation she discovered in the form of a shoplifted book, the 19th century French poet Arthur Rimbaud 's '' Illuminations ''. The B-side was a version of the rock standard with the addition of a spoken-word piece about fugitive heiress Patty Hearst ("...Patty Hearst, you're standing there in front of the Symbionese Liberation Army flag with your legs spread, I was wondering were you gettin' it every night from a black revolutionary man and his women..."). The Patti Smith Group was signed by Clive Davis of Arista Records , and 1975 saw the release of Smith's first album '' Horses '', produced by John Cale , formerly of The Velvet Underground , amidst some tension. The album was recorded and mixed by Bernie Kirsh. The record fused Rock And Roll , proto- Punk Rock with spoken poetry and is widely considered one of rock's greatest debuts. The album begins with a cover of Van Morrison 's " Gloria ," and Smith's opening words are some of the most famous in rock: "Jesus died for somebody's sins ... but not mine." The austere cover photograph by Robert Mapplethorpe has become one of rock's classic images. '', was a photo by Robert Mapplethorpe .]] As the Patti Smith Group toured the United States and Europe , punk's popularity grew. The rawer sound of the group's second album, '' Radio Ethiopia '', reflected this. Considerably less accessible than ''Horses'', ''Radio Ethiopia'' received poor reviews. However, several of its songs, notably "Pissing in a River, " "Pumping," and "Ain't It Strange," have stood the test of time, and Smith still performs them regularly in concert. While touring in support of the record, Smith accidentally danced off a high stage in Tampa, Florida , falling 15 feet into a concrete orchestra pit and breaking several neck vertebrae. The injury required a period of rest and an intensive round of physical therapy, during which time she was able to reassess, re-energize and reorganize her life, a luxury that had been denied her in her swift rise to fame. The Patti Smith Group produced two further albums before the end of the 1970s. '' Easter '' (1978) was her most commercially successful record, containing the hit single " Because The Night " – co-written with Bruce Springsteen – which rose to #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 . '' Wave '' was less successful, although "Frederick" and "Dancing Barefoot" both received commercial airplay. RETREAT Before the release of ''Wave'' (Wave's "Dancing Barefoot" and "Frederick" were both dedicated to him), Smith, now separated from long-time partner Allen Lanier , met Fred "Sonic" Smith , former guitar player for legendary Detroit rock band the MC5 , who adored poetry as much as she did. The running joke at the time was that she only married Fred because she wouldn't have to change her name. Patti and Fred had a son, Jackson, and later a daughter, Jesse. Through most of the 1980s Patti was in semi-retirement from music, living with her family north of Detroit in St. Clair Shores. In 1988, she released the critically well-received but commercially invisible album " Dream Of Life ." In 1994 Fred "Sonic" Smith died. Shortly afterward, she faced the unexpected death of her beloved brother Todd. When her son, Jackson, turned 21, Smith decided to move back to New York. Her son had a band called Back In Spades. RE-EMERGENCE After the deaths of her husband and brother, her friends Michael Stipe of R.E.M. and Allen Ginsberg (whom she had known since her early years in New York) urged her to go back out on the road. She toured briefly with Bob Dylan in December 1995 (chronicled in a book of photographs by Stipe). The next year, she worked with her long-time colleagues to record the haunting '' Gone Again '', featuring, "About a Boy", a tribute to Kurt Cobain . Smith was a great fan of Cobain's, but was more angered than saddened by his suicide. She was quoted in '' Rolling Stone ,'' "When you watch someone you care for fight so hard to hold onto their life, then see another person just throw their life away, I guess I had less patience for that."''Rolling Stone'', July 11 , 1996 , quoted in ''South Coast Today'' (Massachusetts) On Sunday, October 15, 2006 Patti Smith performed at CBGB , with 3½-hour ''tour de force'' to close out Manhattan's legendary live-music venue. She took the stage at 9:30 PM (EDT) and closed for the night (and forever for the venue) at a few minutes after 1:00, after performing a medley of "Horses" and "Gloria" , and finally her song "Elegie", while reading a list of punk rock musicians and advocates who had died in the previous years.http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/16/arts/music/16cnd-cbgbnotebook.html?ei=5088&en=b87ef3abc56fb771&ex=1318651200&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=all Smith was inducted into the , The Ronettes , Grandmaster Flash And Furious Five and R.E.M. including Bill Berry on drums. Patti Smith ''Rock and Roll Hall of Fame'' induction evening show POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT Smith has been an active supporter of the Green Party , which made a surprisingly strong 3rd-party candidate of Ralph Nader in the 2000 presidential campaign. She led the crowd singing "People Have the Power" at the campaign's rallies, and also performed at several of Nader's subsequent " Democracy Rising " events. When an in-concert reference to Ralph Nader was answered with booing (some blame the Greens for the Democratic Party losing the 2000 election), Smith said, "They booed Thomas Paine too." Smith nominally supported Democratic candidate John Kerry in the 2004 Election . She returned to writing and recording. Bruce Springsteen continued performing her "People Have the Power" at campaign events. In the winter of 2004/2005, Smith toured again with Nader in a series of rallies to end the 2003 Invasion Of Iraq and call for the Impeachment of President George W. Bush . Smith premiered two new protest songs in London in September 2006. Louise Jury, writing in " The Independent ", characterized them as "an emotional indictment of American and Israeli foreign policy". One song ("Qana") was about the Israeli airstrike on the Lebanese village of Qana , the other ("Without Chains") about the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay . Jury's article quotes Smith as saying: I wrote both these songs directly in response to events that I felt outraged about. These are injustices against children and the young men and women who are being incarcerated. I'm an American, I pay taxes in my name and they are giving millions and millions of dollars to a country such as Israel and cluster bombs and defense technology and those bombs were dropped on common citizens in Qana. It's terrible. It's a human rights violation. "Without Chains" is about Murat Kurnaz , a Turkish citizen who was born and raised in Germany, held at Guantanamo for four years. Jury quotes Smith: He is the same age as my son, Jackson. When I read the story, I realised how I would feel as a mother if my son had been taken away at the age of 20, put into chains, without any hope of leaving, without any direct charge."Louise Jury, Patti Smith rails against Israel and US , ''The Independent'' (UK), 9 September 2006. Accessed online 7 Oct 2006. REFERENCES IN POPULAR CULTURE In the 2004 film adaptation of '' In My Father's Den '', director Brad McGann replaces the Author 's use of Dostoevsky novels as motifs of rebellion and unfulfilled dreams with Patti Smith's album " Horses ". The songs "Land" and "Free Money" are thematic on the soundtrack. The Sea's the Possibility (Review of In My Father's Den) , The Listener, 9 October 2004 In 1978, Gilda Radner of " Saturday Night Live " spoofed Patti Smith with a character named "Candy Slice", performing "If You Look Close" and "Gimme Mick ". Both songs appear on Radner's 1980 album "Live From New York". The real Patti Smith Group was on SNL two years earlier in 1976, playing "Gloria" and a cover of The Who 's "My Generation". DISCOGRAPHY Studio albums
Live albums
Compilations
SINGLES PUBLISHED WORKS
NOTES EXTERNAL LINKS
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