Norman Seeff

American singer & American photographer. Patti Smith, known as the "punk poet laureate," was a staple of the early punk scene in the 1970s in New York City. Her most popular song, "Because the Night," written with Bruce Springsteen, reached number 13 on the Billboard charts. Her first book, Just Kids, won a National Book Award in 2010. It was written to fulfill a promise to her former partner Robert Mapplethorpe. Mapplethorpe, a photographer best known for his stark black-and-white portraits, courted controversy by documenting the gay male BDSM culture of the 1960s and early 70s, and sparked lasting debate about obscenity and free speech in the U.S.