50 Fun Facts About Patti Smith

On behalf of which absent Nobel literature laureate did Patti Smith sing at the 2016 prize ceremony in Stockholm?

Bob Dylan had other commitments, so Smith sang one of his early protest songs for him. Nerves made her stumble over a verse; she apologised, started again and was cheered at the end.

Which rock star's unfinished 1977 studio outtake became Patti Smith's biggest hit after she wrote the words for it?

Bruce Springsteen had recorded little more than a title and some mumbling when the tape reached Smith. She wrote the words, and his own version stayed off his studio albums.

Which 1975 debut album by Patti Smith was added to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2021?

Horses fused punk rock with spoken poetry, and in 2009 the Library of Congress chose it for preservation in the National Recording Registry.

Which photographer, Patti Smith's former partner and lifelong friend, shot the cover portrait for her debut album?

Robert Mapplethorpe took the picture at a Greenwich Village penthouse, and Smith recalled him announcing that he had the shot after about eight frames.

Which 2010 memoir by Patti Smith tells of her struggling early years in New York with a young photographer?

Just Kids kept a vow: at her friend's deathbed in 1989 she promised to write their story, and she said that finishing it felt like the promise fulfilled.

In which Midwestern city was Patti Smith born in 1946, four years before her family moved east?

Chicago was home only until she was four: the family left for Philadelphia and later settled in the East Coast suburbs where she grew up.

Which 1964 song by Van Morrison's band Them did Patti Smith radically rework to open her 1975 debut album?

Gloria became something new in her hands: she grafted on verses from her own early poem "Oath", so the record opens with her words rather than Van Morrison's.

Which 1978 Patti Smith Group single, her best-known song, reached number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100?

Because the Night climbed even higher in Britain, to number five, and in 1995 it won an ASCAP award as one of the most performed songs.

Which institution inducted Patti Smith in March 2007, when she dedicated the honour to her late husband?

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony heard her cover the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter", and one of her own anthems was the all-star jam that closed the night.

Which Bowery punk club did Patti Smith close for good in October 2006 with a three-and-a-half-hour farewell show?

CBGB had hosted her band's long residency in 1975. On its last night she ended with "Elegie" and read out the names of punk musicians who had died.

In which state did Patti Smith grow up, graduating from Deptford Township High School in 1964?

New Jersey later honoured her through Rowan University, the former Glassboro State College she briefly attended before leaving for Manhattan, which gave her an honorary doctorate in 2008.

Which proto-punk band, known for the live album Kick Out the Jams, featured Patti Smith's future husband on guitar?

MC5 guitarist Fred "Sonic" Smith married her in 1980, and his nickname later gave the band Sonic Youth its name.

In which state did Patti Smith spend most of the 1980s raising a family, largely retired from music?

Michigan was her husband's home ground: the family lived quietly in the lakeside suburb of St. Clair Shores, and she released just one album in the whole decade.

Which former member of the Velvet Underground produced Patti Smith's 1975 debut album amid some studio tension?

John Cale got the job after a change of heart: Smith was won over by the raw sound of his solo albums, such as 1974's Fear.

Which future Pulitzer-winning playwright co-wrote and co-starred in the 1971 one-act play Cowboy Mouth with Patti Smith?

Sam Shepard and Smith were lovers at the time and took the leads themselves, playing Slim and Cavale, two would-be rock stars holed up together in a motel room.

Which hard rock band, whose keyboardist was Patti Smith's partner in the 1970s, recorded several songs with her lyrics?

Blue Öyster Cult even considered her as lead singer. Her credits with them include "Career of Evil" and "Shooting Shark", and she duets on "The Revenge of Vera Gemini".

Which guitarist, compiler of the garage-rock anthology Nuggets, backed Patti Smith at her first poetry reading in 1971?

Lenny Kaye played guitar behind her poems that night, and three years later the pair cut her first single together.

Which 1978 Patti Smith Group album, the first after her serious neck injury, became the band's commercial breakthrough?

Easter was the only one of her 1970s albums made without pianist Richard Sohl as a band member, because he was ill during the sessions.

Which major American literary prize did Patti Smith win for nonfiction in November 2010 with a memoir?

The National Book Award capped a second career in print that had begun with small-press poetry collections such as Seventh Heaven in 1972.

Which drummer, half of a rock duo with her former husband, was married to Patti Smith's son Jackson from 2009 to 2013?

Meg White of the White Stripes married Jackson Smith, himself a guitarist, in a small backyard ceremony in Nashville in May 2009.

Which musician-producer, who dedicated a 1972 song to Patti Smith, produced the Patti Smith Group's final album in 1979?

Todd Rundgren steered Wave toward a more radio-friendly pop sound. Months after its release the band played a last concert and split up.

Which 1988 Patti Smith anthem, co-written with her husband, did she lead crowds in singing at political rallies in 2000?

People Have the Power got its first live airing from the couple themselves, at a gala at Radio City Music Hall in March 1990, nearly two years after its release.

Which rock singer, who died in 1994, is mourned in "About a Boy" on Patti Smith's 1996 album Gone Again?

Kurt Cobain was a musician Smith had sympathised with from afar. The same album mourns her husband and her brother, who died soon after one another.

Which band's 1996 single "E-Bow the Letter" features guest vocals by Patti Smith, a hero of its frontman?

R.E.M.'s singer Michael Stipe has said her debut album was one of the records that inspired him to start a punk band, and he later published a book of photos of her on tour.

As a member of which Christian denomination was Patti Smith raised, before leaving organised religion as a teenager?

Jehovah's Witness teaching gave her a thorough biblical education, but she found it too confining, and that break fed the defiant opening line of her debut album.

In which Florida city did Patti Smith fall 15 feet from a stage in January 1977, breaking vertebrae in her neck?

Tampa's stage stood above a concrete orchestra pit. She needed a spell of rest and physical therapy, which she later said let her reassess and reorganise her life.

Which country's culture ministry named Patti Smith a Commander of its Order of Arts and Letters in 2005?

France honoured her again in 2022, making her an Officer of the Legion of Honour at a ceremony held in Brooklyn.

Which Swedish award, founded by ABBA's manager Stig Anderson, did Patti Smith receive in 2011?

The Polar Music Prize has been called the Nobel Prize of music in Sweden, and it was set up in 1989 with a donation to the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.

Which record executive signed the Patti Smith Group to his new label Arista after spotting them in a New York club?

Clive Davis had launched Arista only in 1974, and under him its roster came to run from Barry Manilow to Aretha Franklin.

Which 19th-century French poet did Patti Smith describe as the boyfriend of her girlhood daydreams?

Arthur Rimbaud shares the dedication of her second album with the sculptor Constantin Brâncuși, and objects linked to him featured in her photography show Camera Solo.

Which Manhattan hotel, long a haven for artists, writers and musicians, did Patti Smith call home in room 1017?

The Chelsea was her base while she and her partner became regulars at Max's Kansas City and she voiced the soundtrack of an underground art film.

Which New York band, led by Tom Verlaine, shared a 1975 residency with Patti Smith, who recommended it to her label?

Television built a devoted following at those shows, and its debut album Marquee Moon became one of the defining records of the punk era.

Which producer of Patti Smith's 1978 breakthrough album returned a decade later to co-produce her comeback record?

Jimmy Iovine made the 1978 album at the Record Plant in New York while he was engineering another star's record in the same building.

Which rock standard, made famous by Jimi Hendrix, was the A-side of Patti Smith's first single in 1974?

Hey Joe came with a twist: she added a spoken piece about the fugitive heiress Patty Hearst, while the B-side recalled her own days on a factory assembly line.

Which title is shared by Patti Smith's 1988 comeback album and a 2008 documentary about her by Steven Sebring?

Dream of Life was the only album she made with her husband, who co-wrote every song on it, and the film version won a cinematography award at Sundance.

Which 2007 Patti Smith album consists entirely of covers, from the Beatles and the Doors to Tears for Fears?

Twelve is named for its track count. Two further covers, of Lou Reed and the Decemberists, went out separately on a promotional EP called Two More.

Which Hollywood actor plays guitar and drums on the title track of Patti Smith's 2012 album Banga?

Johnny Depp is a friend of Smith's: another song on the record, "Nine", is reportedly her birthday present to him, and the album is named after Pontius Pilate's dog in a Russian novel.

Which English singer, who died in 2011, is remembered in the ballad "This Is the Girl" on Patti Smith's album Banga?

Amy Winehouse had died the year before the album came out. Another song on the record is partly based on the actress Maria Schneider.

Patti Smith's Grammy-nominated 1997 single "1959" is named for a year of upheaval in which Himalayan land?

Tibet had fascinated her since she was about eleven, drawn by its stream of continual prayer, and she became a long-time supporter of Tibet House US.

Which presidential candidate did Patti Smith back in 2000, singing at his campaign rallies?

Ralph Nader kept her support for years: she sang at his later Democracy Rising events and toured with him again in rallies against the Iraq War.

Which religious leader invited Patti Smith to perform at a televised Christmas concert in December 2014?

Pope Francis was a booking she defended against critics who recalled her irreverent early lyrics: she said she had evolved, and would sing even to an enemy.

Which comedian played Candy Slice, a wild punk rocker based on Patti Smith, on Saturday Night Live in the late 1970s?

Gilda Radner introduced Candy Slice in December 1978 and brought her back two months later for a mock benefit concert, where the character sang a tribute to Mick Jagger.

Which Scottish singer wrote the hit "Suddenly I See" about Patti Smith's portrait on the cover of her debut album?

KT Tunstall also modelled the cover of her own debut album on that photograph, and the song went on to open the film The Devil Wears Prada.

On which crime drama did Patti Smith make her TV acting debut at age 64, in a 2011 episode called "Icarus"?

Law & Order: Criminal Intent suited her tastes: she has said she loves detective stories, and she has worked on a mystery of her own that opens at a London church.

Which blockbuster film series features Patti Smith's song "Capitol Letter" on the soundtrack of its second movie?

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire soundtrack set her beside Coldplay, Sia and Lorde, unlikely company for a punk poet then in her sixties.

Which Beat poet, a friend since Patti Smith's early New York years, urged her back to live music in the 1990s?

Allen Ginsberg made the case alongside a younger rock singer who idolised her, and by December 1995 she was back on the road for a short tour.

Which English poet had a 2007 selection of his poems edited and introduced by Patti Smith?

William Blake also gave her the title of her 2005 poetry collection, Auguries of Innocence, which she borrowed from one of his poems.

At which Greenwich Village studio, commissioned by Jimi Hendrix, did Patti Smith record her debut album in 1975?

Electric Lady Studios gave the sessions a ghost: the final day fell on the fifth anniversary of Hendrix's death, and she recorded a requiem for him that day.

Which 1979 Patti Smith Group song, dedicated to women like Modigliani's lover Jeanne Hébuterne, was later covered by U2?

Dancing Barefoot was co-written with guitarist Ivan Král and also dedicated to her future husband, and Rolling Stone placed it among its 500 greatest songs in 2010.

In which Italian city did the Patti Smith Group play its last concert in 1979, where she returned 30 years later?

Florence drew her back in September 2009 for a week of exhibitions and an open-air concert in Piazza Santa Croce that marked the anniversary.