Patti Smith

Singer, songwriter, and poet (1946-present)

Patti Smith is an icon of rock music, art, and literature. Born in 1946 in Chicago and raised in New Jersey, Smith knew from a young age she wanted to be an artist and started doing poetry readings in New York City in the early 1970s. In 1975, she burst...

Patti Smith is an icon of rock music, art, and literature. Born in 1946 in Chicago and raised in New Jersey, Smith knew from a young age she wanted to be an artist and started doing poetry readings in New York City in the early 1970s. In 1975, she burst onto the music scene with her debut album Horses, an avant-garde revelation of poetic intensity that helped herald a new era of punk music, leading Smith to be dubbed the “punk poet laureate.” 
Smith’s career has spanned decades and disciplines. Her memoir Just Kids, released in 2010, is a touching look at her relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe as they navigated their struggling-artist years together in 1960s and ’70s New York; it won the National Book Award for nonfiction. Smith released several other critically acclaimed albums, poetry collections, two more memoirs, and a photography book. She remains a cultural force today, continually touring and using social media to document her unwavering commitment to creative freedom.