A blistering songwriter, an eclectic singer, a talented musician, a sophisticated poet, an artist fond of photography, fine writing, painting, an avid reader, and a draftsman.
Daughter of a machinist working at a Honeywell plant and a waitress, a former jazz singer, Patti Lee was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1946. Eldest of four children, Patti was exposed to music since her early years. Her family then moved to Deptford Township, New Jersey.
Three years after her graduation, in 1967 while working in a factory, she gave birth to a baby girl she chose to place for adoption. That same year, she moved to Manhattan in New York City. While working at a bookstore, she met and befriended Robert Mapplethorpe, a very charismatic and talented photographer. They had a very intense and turbulent relationship as well as an artistic collaboration, and to this day Patti considers Mapplethorpe to be one of the most important people in her life.
Passionate about 19th-century French poetry, and to add to her musical inspiration, her lyrics – as ascetic as her prose – oftentimes transcending the time and the present moment, transformed her many hits into her personal powerful trademark, a refined signature of distinction and uniqueness.
In fact, in the decade of the 1970s, Patti was mainly involved in painting, writing and poetry.
Being fond of poetry, in 1971 she gave her first public reading at Saint Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery.
Her huge success after her performance propelled her in the scene of the new talents of the New York art circle.
The following year, Patti published Seventh Heaven, her first book of poetry which didn’t get as many sales as her acclaimed performance could have suggested, but the audience loved it very much. She then produced two more literary works, Early morning dream and WITT in 1973.
In 1974, Patti formed her band, The Patti Smith Group that continued till 1979. After her first years performing music and singing, she became an influential figure in the New York City punk rock scene. In 1975, she literally became a rock icon. It was the year in which Horses set fire to the stage. Her seminal album Horses of which the searing cover was shot by Robert Mapplethorpe was followed by nine releases, including Radio Ethiopia, Easter, Dream of Life, Gone Again, and Trampin’.
I could go on writing about all her albums and literary works, but I would fill twenty pages or more. What is relevant to point out, besides the public figure’s successful career and her accidental propulsion into stardom as a rock legend, is that Patti always wanted to be something great.
She wanted to be the best at whatever she would do.
She aimed at achieving a meaningful life through decisive choices and compelling visions through arts, relationships and everything that really mattered and still matters in a very intense human experience beyond boundaries.
A fiery lifetime passion and hunger for poetry and music shaped this consumed multitask artist and performer into a timeless signature for change.
ENFP in the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Patterns, Patti is undoubtedly charismatic and quirky. Also idealistic and inspirational, this personality type strives for excellence, has an adventurous side and authenticity is a very important value so I infer these elements are proper of Patti’s character and temperament.
Shy, introverted but also sociable and open, Patti defines herself a vagabond at heart. Not only in the heart, but looking like a vagabond in her appearance, she is a reserved, caring, warm and thoughtful person who has thousands of friends: an introvert-extrovert. A kind of contradiction. In fact, her contradictory aspects and duality make this rare individual one of a kind. Is it possible to love the ocean and not being able to swim? For Patti, it is a fact as it is another fact to be fond of travelling without owning a driving licence.
Her extensive collection of rich literary works, including sophisticated poetry, refined memoirs and vivid autobiographical tales to name a few, defines Patti’s intrinsic relationship with pain and a personal life marked by death.
After publishing Just Kids in 2010, and M Train in 2015, Year of the Monkey, a New York Times Best-seller published in September 2019, is a deep, gracefully written memoir where dreams and reality are intensely intertwined to depict a year of transformational experiences into a sumptuous visionary canvas.
In her book Just Kids, the National Book Award-winning author refers to Mapplethorpe as “the artist of my life”. Especially this book that won Patti accolades establishing her as a literary force, has much to do with the loss. Patti lost her parents, siblings, husband, Fred ‘Sonic’ Smith in 1994 at the age of 46, and before her husband, her partner-in-art and former lover Mapplethorpe who asked her to write their autobiography on his deathbed in 1989. Patti would have never written it, but he asked for it, and she accepted a tough challenge because of the big responsibility it implied.
Heavily criticized for being herself and who she really was, throughout her whole existence to this day, Patti chose to continue to be herself regardless of criticism.
Despite the success and many ups and downs, loss became the common denominator in suffering that Patti was able to transform into an inspirational tribute to life.
In particular, her intense and turbulent but also rich and creative period with Mapplethorpe as a partner as well as a creative artist impregnates and fills her writing of an irrepressible cathartic power to overcome the present moment lived again on paper that has found a deserved place among the eternal timeless masterpieces of the 21st century.
For further reference, please visit https://www.pattismith.net