In 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 performance-driven poetry readings soon took on a musical component, and from she worked regularly with the guitarist and critic Lenny Kaye. By they had formed a band and began performing widely in the downtown club scene. Signed to a contract with Arista Records, she released her first album, Horses , in ; it was produced by John Cale , the Welsh avant-gardist and cofounder with Lou Reed of the Velvet Underground. Her purest, truest album, it replicated her live shows better than any subsequent LP. Later albums of the s 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 she released her most commercially successful album, Easter , in Although she recorded an album with her husband in 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 that her comeback began in earnest.
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Patti Smith is a singer, writer and artist who became a highly influential figure in the New York City punk rock scene. After working on a factory assembly line, she began performing spoken word and later formed the Patti Smith Group Her most famous album is Horses. Her relationship with Fred "Sonic" Smith caused a hiatus in her singing career, but she returned to music after his untimely death and later earned acclaim for a series of autobiographical books.
Patricia Lee Smith born December 30, [5] is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and poet who became an influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her debut album Horses. Called the "punk poet laureate", Smith fused rock and poetry in her work. Her most widely known song is " Because the Night ", which was co-written with Bruce Springsteen. It reached number 13 on the Billboard Hot chart in [1] and number five in the U. She placed 47th in Rolling Stone magazine's list of Greatest Artists published in December [9] and was also a recipient of the Polar Music Prize. Smith graduated from Deptford Township High School in and went to work in a factory.
