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Patti Smith

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AboutPatti Smith is considered "a poet whose energy and vision found its voice in the most powerful medium of the culture: rock and roll." Her recordings include Horses, Radio Ethiopia, Easter, Wave, Dream of Life,Gone Again, Peace and Noise, and Gung Ho. Her new Arista release, LAND 1975-2002, is a 2 disk compilation CD package which includes tracks from her previous eight Arista recordings. The first CD contains selections that were voted on by fans themselves, from which over 10,000 votes were tabulated. The second disk is composed of previously unreleased tracks, including the original independent single Piss Factory, unreleased demos from 1975, live performances and unreleased studio tracks. Among these tracks is a new work Higher Learning, featuring Patti on clarinet, a version of the Prince's When Doves Cry, and the 1996 Smith/Ray composition Wander I Go, which includes Jeff Buckley on acoustic guitar and Tom Verlaine on electric guitar. Within the LAND package, a 36 page booklet includes a chronology of photos, notations, fliers, and ephemera from the period of 1975-2002. The booklet includes vintage photographs, as well as live shots taken by fan/photographer, Laura Lakeway. The use of her photographs further enforces the theme of fan participation in this project. Patti Smith, born in Chicago in 1946 and the oldest of four siblings, was raised in South Jersey. From an early age she gravitated toward the arts, Tibetan culture, and human rights issues. She studied at Glassboro State Teachers College and migrated to New York City in 1967. She teamed up with art student Robert Mapplethorpe and the two encouraged each others work process. Both of them pursuing painting and drawing and she poetry.

In February 1971 she performed her first public reading at St. Mark's Church on the lower eastside, accompanied by Lenny Kaye on guitar. In April of the same year she co-wrote and performed the play Cowboy Mouth with playwright Sam Shepard. Continuing to write and perform her poetry, in 1974 she and Lenny Kaye added Richard Sohl on piano. As a trio they played regularly around New York, centering on their collective and varied musical roots and Patti's improvised poetry

The independent single release, Hey Joe/Piss Factory, featured Tom Verlaine playing lead guitar. Along with the highly innovative and influential group Television, the trio helped to open up a restricted music scene which centered at CBGBs in New York City. After recruiting guitarist Ivan Kral they played CBGBs for eight weeks in the Spring of 1975. Patti described their work as "three chords merged with the power of the word." With the addition of drummer Jay Dee Daugherty, the Patti Smith Group was complete. They were signed by Clive Davis to his fledgling Arista label. Together they produced four albums: Horsess (produced by John Cale), Radio Ethiopia (produced by Jack Douglas), Easter (produced by Jimmy Iovine), which included their top twenty hit "Because the Night", co-written with Bruce Springsteen, and Wave. (produced by Todd Rundgren). In 1980, Patti Smith married Fred "Sonic" Smith and moved to Detroit Michigan. They had two children. In 1988 they recorded Dream of Life (produced by Fred "Sonic" Smith and Jimmy Iovine) which included the classic anthem, People Have the Power. It also marked her final collaboration with three of her closest companions, all who met with untimely deaths; Robert Mapplethorpe, who photographed her for the cover; Richard Sohl, who provided all of the keyboards; and her husband, whocomposed the music. In the summer of 1995, with the help of old and new friends, she released Gone Again, (produced by Malcolm Burn and Lenny Kaye) a highly acclaimed meditation on passage and mortality. In touring the album and opening for Bob Dylan, it also marked her re-emergence as a performer. By 1997 she had formed a new band with Lenny Kaye, Jay Dee Daugherty, Oliver Ray and Tony Shanahan. The group recorded Peace and Noise, which incorporated a blend of the spoken and sung in her trademark incantatory style and reflected the feel and inner play of a working group. She and the band tours regularly and participates in benefit work, including the Neil Young Bridge School, Jewel Heart, and the Tibet House Foundation. The song 1959 from Peace and Noise, written by Smith and Shanahan, was nominated for a Grammy in 1998. Gung Ho in (produced by Gil Norton) 2000, her eighth album on Arista Records, Patti Smith continued her process of merging tradition with the new.

As in former albums, she drew on the inspiration of spiritual and political leaders and events, as well as heralding the efforts of the common man. From Mother Theresa, who exemplified charity, to the resilient Vietnamese patriot Ho Chi Minh, Gung Ho explored those who - as the slogan implies - entered into service with enthusiastic heart. Glitter in their Eyes from Gung Ho, written by Smith and Oliver Ray, was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2001. Patti is the author of Witt, Babel, Wool Gathering, The Coral Sea, and Complete, a catalog of lyrics, photographs, illustrations, original artwork and reflections. Patti Smith's drawings have been exhibited at the Robert Miller Gallery in New York, The Photographic Resource Center at Boston University, the Museum Eki in Kyoto, Galerie Baudoin Lebon in Paris, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 1999 she read at The Whitney and Guggenheim Museums. In November 2000, she participated in the launching of the William Blake exhibit at London's Tate Gallery with a performance with Oliver Ray at St. James Cathedral, and also at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art in conjunction with its William Blake program in June 2001. In 2002, Patti Smith is scheduled to have an exhibition of drawings at the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. Aside from recording, performing, art, and writing, Patti is strongly involved in social issues; amongst them she is a supporter of Ralph Nader and the Green Party and also participates in various human rights organizations. She is also finishing a book for Harper-Collins on her growth of an artist and her friendship with Robert Mapplethorpe. Currently, a tour of her band (Oliver Ray, Lenny Kaye, Jay Dee Daugherty, and Tony Shanahan) is being planned for this year to coincide with the release of LAND.

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