Patti Smith

Patricia Lee Smith is an iconic American artist, who for almost four decades has held prominence as a virbant singer-songwriter, poet and artist and has been dubbed the "Godmother of Punk." Her 1975 debut album "Horses" was influential in the birth of the punk rock movement by integrating her beat poetry performance style with three-cord rock, while her lyrical allusions introduced American teens to 19th century French poetry, and her "unladylike" language defied the disco era. Smith is most widely known for the song "Because the Night," which was co-written by Bruce Springsteen and reached number 13 on the "Billboard Hot 100" chart in 1978. In 2005, Patti Smith was named a Commander of the Ordre des Artes et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture, and in 2007, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Patti Smith's most recent release (July 2008) is "The Coral Sea," a double-disc set of her live performance with My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields. The Coral Sea is Smith's homage to her friend and photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, as well as the title of her 1996 book. Kevin Shields accompanies her on guitars and effects and creates a haunting backdrop to the spoken prose. The recordings were made June 22nd, 2005 and September 12th, 2006 at sold-out performances at the QEH in London; upon reviewing the 2005 performance the U.K. Newspaper "The Guardian" gave it 5 stars and called it 'magical.' Patti is also the subject of photographer Steven Sebrig's debut film "Dream of Life," which at the 2008 Sundance Film Fesitval won the Cinematography Award, and was a finalist for the Grand Jury Prize.

Patti Smith has been a great source of inspiration for Michael Stipe of R.E.M., who says that discovering her album Horses when he was 15 had a huge impact, claiming that was the moment when "decided then that I was going to start a band." In 1998, Stipe published a collection of photos called Two Times Intro: On the Road with Patti Smith. Stipe sings backing vocals on Smith's songs "Last Call" and "Glitter in Their Eyes," and Patti also sings background vocals on R.E.M.'s "E-Bow the Letter"