http://www.myspace.com/pattismith

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Patti-Smith/105547869479786

American singer-songwriter, poet and artist Patti Smith was a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her  1975 debut album Horses.

With 3 more albums following in quick succession; Radio Ethiopia, Easter, which arguably contains her most widely known song and top 20 hit Because the Night co-written with Bruce Springsteen and Wave, Patti Smith then retired from the public eye and moved to Detroit.

In 1980 she married Fred “Sonic” Smith former guitar player of Detroit rock band MC5 and Sonic’s Rendezvous Band, and the couple had 2 children. For most of the 80s Patti was in semi-retirement but in 1988 she released the album Dream of Life, which was co-produced by her husband.

Following the deaths of her husband Fred Smith, her brother Todd and her friend and original keyboarder player Richard Sohl, Patti in the summer of 1995 with the help of old friends and new released Gone Again. By 1997 a new band was formed and the group recorded Peace and Noise and later Gung Ho.

In 2002 Patti Smith signed to Columbia Records and released the album Trampin followed by the 30th Anniversary re-issue of Horses entitled Horses/Horses in 2005.

It was in 2005 also that Patti Smith was named a commander of the Ordre des Arts des Lettres, by the French Minister of Culture, the highest grade awarded to an artist and in 2007 she was inducted in to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and released the album Twelve.

Aside from being a noted recording artist, Patti is the author of Witt, Babel, Wool Gathering, the Coral Sea, and a catalogue of lyrics, photographs, illustrations, original artwork and reflections, A volume of her poetry Auguries of Innocence was published in 2005, her drawings have been exhibited in galleries around the world and most recently in 2010 Patti Smith won the National Book Award for her memoir Just Kids.