Patti Smith’s next upcoming appearance will be in Chicago tomorrow, February 21. She will be promoting her new book Just Kids. For information and tickets, or to buy the book, click here.This event follows her latest performance at Saint Andrews Hall in Detroit, Michigan.

Next on Smith’s itinerary–crossing the pond! Fans in the UK will be delighted to learn that her “An Evening of Words and Music with Tony Shanahan” will be taking place in various English locales throughout the month of March. If you wish to attend, make plans to follow Smith to the following locations:

March 21: Union Chapel, London

March 22: Holywell Music Room, Oxford

March 24: Oran Mor, Glasgow

March 25: The Sage 2, Gateshead

March 26: The Assembly, Leamington Spa

All shows will be starting between 7:30 and 8:00 PM.

Many of these shows are already sold out, so make sure to buy your tickets as soon as possible. Tickets may be purchased at Artist Ticket.com.

Tickets are £27.50.  Children under 14 must be accompanied by a paying adult. A maximum number of six tickets can be purchased by each individual at once. No refunds are available. If purchasing tickets with a non-UK address, tickets will be held at the box office for pickup prior to the show.

Patti Smith was born Patricia Lee Smith.

The songstress was a Christmas baby: her birthday is December 30, 1963.

Smith was born in Chicago, Illinois, but spent much of her childhood in Deptford Township, New Jersey.

Voted class clown of her senior class, Smith graduated in 1964 from Deptford Township High School.

Smith’s vocal talents aren’t random; she was born to a jazz singer, Beverly Smith. Her father, named Grant Smith, was a worker at the Honeywell plant.

Raised as a Christian by a religious mother, Smith no longer identifies with organized religion.  Though the singer-songwriter says that she’s been well-educated in the Bible, she’s also written that “Jesus died for somebody’s sins, but not mine” in her song “Gloria.”

Hailing from a working family, Smith is no stranger to hard work. Following her high school graduation, she worked in a factory to help support herself and her family.

In addition to her voice, Patti Smith can play the guitar and the clarinet.

She has been on the music scene since 1971.

Considered a punk rock artist, Smith is also known as an alternative rock performer as well as a protopunk visionary.

In addition to performing music, Smith also writes songs, creates art, and writes poetry.

Smith has worked with both Columbia and Artista record labels.

The singer’s official website is PattiSmith.net.

No, it’s much deeper, more meaningful, and long-lasting than that.

Patti Smith simply has influence. No matter how many artists she might cite who’ve provided her with some inspiration along the way, there will always be up-and-coming artists who look to the great Punk Godmother for their creative stimulus.

For starters, there’s…

Michael Stripe of R.E.M. A friend of Smith’s, he actually listened to her debut album Horses when he was only fifteen. Because of that album, Michael said that he decided to start his own band. So could we say that without Patti Smith, there would be no R.E.M.? Maybe…

KT Tunstall realized what she wanted to do with her life when she saw Smith in a magazine–and later dedicated a single to her in tribute.

Actress Ellen Page of Juno fame cites Smith as one of her biggest influences, something that made filmmakers include Smith songs in two of her movies.

And who knows how many more there will be? One thing’s for sure: with a sound like Patti Smith’s, you can bet that artists will never stop visiting her well to fill their buckets.

Just Kids, a memoir of life in 1970s Manhattan, was just released. It also features her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe. Described as the book that tells how Smith became who she is today, it features their love that circled around both of their paths to stardom that evolved into a deep friendship when Mapplethorpe discovered that he was gay.

From poet to major rock star, the book chronicles Smith’s life from 1967 when, at the tender age of 21, she uprooted herself to Manhattan to a life of uncertainty. While her fans see her as an audacious rebel rocker, unafraid and fierce, her memoir depicts her at an earlier time when she, like most people in their early 20’s, was as scared and searching as anyone else.

Her homelessness, her joblessness and hunger, and her own special corner of the summer of love are all delved into with the same emotional context and rhythmic nature found in her music.

Other famous movers and shakers in the poetry and music scenes during the time are also included in the memoir, from Janis Joplin to Allen Ginsberg to William Burroughs to Jimi Hendrix.

Just Kids is on sale at most major bookstores and Amazon.com. The hardback book is available for $15 to $27.

Smith has been promoting her book at various bookstores since its release in January.  On February 18, she will be visiting the Ann Arbor Borders to promote the book and perhaps play some of her beautiful ballads or punk rock.

Here the songstress is performing at Book Soup in Los Angeles: