Patti Smith

Born in 1946, Patti Smith was the third daughter of a factory worker and a waitress, growing up in a home filled with diverse music. She moved to New York City in 1967, where she began to develop a unique form of rock 'n' roll poetry. By September 1971, she had attracted a cult following with her published volumes of writing and poems, "Seventh Heaven" and "Witt," establishing herself as a symbol of new wave poetry and music with a fiercely individualistic style. Her debut album, "Horses," released in 1975, became a significant work, selling an estimated 350,000 copies and maintaining consistent sales for decades. Her most widely known song, "Because the Night," co-written with Bruce Springsteen, reached number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1978. Following the release of her fourth album, "Wave," in 1979, Smith largely withdrew from the music scene, producing only one album, "Dream Of Life," in the subsequent decade. She married guitarist Fred "Sonic" Smith, with whom she had two children, Jackson and Jesse. After her husband's death in November 1994, followed by her brother Todd's death a month later, Smith returned to New York City in early 1995. She resumed her musical career with the album "Gone Again" in 1996, followed by "Peace and Noise" in 1997. Her contributions to music and literature have been widely recognized; she was named a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture in 2005, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, and awarded the National Book Award in 2010 for her memoir "Just Kids."