Patti Smith

The author, narrator, and main figure, Patti Smith is also a rock musician, poet, and visual artist. She is still performing and giving concerts at the age of 70. She lived in northern Philadelphia in her early years and spent much of her childhood and adolescence in South Jersey. She was born in 1946 to religious parents and had two siblings.

In the late 60s and 70s, she joined the art community in New York, inspired by the Beat Generation. In 1969, she went busking and doing performance art with her sister in Paris. She did spoken word, plays, painting, performances, and more in Manhattan. From 1974 to 1979, she performed with the Patti Smith Group, and in 1975 they released their debut album Horses. It combined poetry and punk rock, and its cover (shot by her partner Mapplethorpe) is still remembered. She released four albums in the 70s.

In the 80s...