Patti Smith (born December 30, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, poet, visual artist, author, and photographer whose work helped define the artistic direction of New York punk. By combining rock music with poetry, spoken word, political conviction, and performance art, she created a form of expression that was at once literary, confrontational, and deeply rooted in rock and roll tradition.
Born in Chicago and raised in southern New Jersey, Smith moved to New York in the late 1960s. She initially established herself as a poet and performer, reading her work in galleries, bookstores, and downtown clubs. Her early collaborations with guitarist Lenny Kaye gradually developed into a more forceful musical style. In the mid-1970s, she formed the Patti Smith Group with Kaye, pianist Richard Sohl, bassist Ivan Kral, and drummer Jay Dee Daugherty. The group became closely associated with the emerging scene around clubs such as CBGB.
Smith's debut album, Horses, was released in 1975 and produced by John Cale. Its opening track, "Gloria", reworked a song by Van Morrison with Smith's own poetry, immediately announcing her refusal to separate literary ambition from rock energy. The album's mixture of raw guitars, free-form structures, spoken passages, and direct vocal delivery made it a landmark of art punk and established Smith as one of the most distinctive voices of her generation.
The albums Radio Ethiopia (1976), Easter (1978), and Wave (1979) expanded her musical range. Easter included "Because the Night", written with Bruce Springsteen, which became Smith's best-known commercial success. Rather than abandoning experimentation, however, she continued to treat popular music as a vehicle for poetry, spiritual questioning, social criticism, and personal transformation. Songs such as "Pissing in a River", "Dancing Barefoot", and "People Have the Power" became important parts of her repertoire.
After Wave, Smith stepped away from recording and touring for much of the 1980s. She returned with Dream of Life in 1988, an album that included "People Have the Power", written with guitarist Fred "Sonic" Smith. Her later records, including Gone Again (1996), Peace and Noise (1997), Gung Ho (2000), Trampin' (2004), and Banga (2012), showed a mature artist continuing to work across the boundaries of rock, folk, spoken word, and improvisation. Her performances remained central to her reputation, emphasizing collective energy and emotional intensity over polished spectacle.
Smith's literary career has developed alongside her music. Her memoir Just Kids (2010), about her early years in New York and her friendship with artist Robert Mapplethorpe, won the National Book Award for Nonfiction. She followed it with M Train (2015), The Year of the Monkey (2019), and Bread of Angels (2025), while also publishing poetry, lyrics, drawings, and photography. Steven Sebring's documentary Patti Smith: Dream of Life (2008) further explored her creative process and public work.
Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, Smith has also received the Polar Music Prize, France's Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and the 2010 National Book Award. In 2026, she received the Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts. Her lasting influence extends beyond punk: Smith helped establish the idea that a rock performer could function simultaneously as poet, political artist, visual creator, and cultural critic.