Patti Smith - Wonderful Woman No. 118

Patti Smith - Born 1946
American Singer, Songwriter, Poet, Actress and Writer

Added to the album by Julie, A Wonderful Woman

I have written about many female singers in the blog, some of my own selections and some of other people. You may remember from the edition on Joan Jett - Wonderful Woman No. 84 (also one of Julie's additions) that Rock isn't really my kind of music, so reading about Patti Smith and uncovering her wonderfulness has been really interesting and another reason to reflect on how great it is to have contributions to the album from different people. Thank you Julie and to all those who make suggestions of additions, the album continues to grow with more and more Women of Wonderment, I hope to write about all of them in time.

She ranks among the most influential figures in rock 'n' roll... people who aren't even enthralled with her music respond to her rawness and passion, her intellectual curiosity.
The New York Times

I was born in Illinois...mainline of America...
beat to shit...Chicago tenement
big red eyed rats in the night...dead rats to tease at night
Morning...I waited for the organ grinder
with my nickel for the monkeys tin cup
gingerbread man...cotton candy man
bad girl setting fire to the oil cans
run like hell escape on the icemans truck
I was a limping ugly duck
but I had good luck

Patti Smith (Extract from the poem Autobiography)

A Poet, a Playwright and an occasional Actress, Patti is best remembered as the front-woman of her Patti Smith Group, with whom she lead vocals and played guitar. The punk-rock group recorded their first album Horses in 1975, in total they have released ten studio albums, the last Banga released just this year. While as a recording artist, Patti has not been the most commercially successful of artists, her popularity as an underground artist is huge and her influence is well documented, with the likes of Madonna, Morrissey and KT Tunstall all acknowledging her as inspiration for their own music and careers.

Patti has had many industry acknowledgements, including winning the Polar Music Prize and being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

She has also written many books, had her poetry published and created visual art.

Aside from her full and interesting artistic career, Patti has often involved in political activism. In particular, she strongly campaigned against the war in Iraq and for peace in Gaza. A number of her songs contain messages of protest and peace.

A wonderfully creative woman; interesting, intelligent and passionate.

Let's just say that I think any person who aspires, presumes, or feels the calling to be an artist has a built-in sense of duty.
Patti Smith