Patti Smith, 76, is hospitalized and her show canceled after suffering from a ‘sudden illness’ in the middle of her tour
PUNK rock singer Patti Smith has been rushed to the hospital after reportedly falling ill while on tour.
Smith, 76, had been due to perform in Bologna but the gig has since been canceled.
“With great regret, we inform the kind audience that Patti Smith's concert will not be able to go on stage due to a sudden illness that struck the artist,” a statement from the Duse Theater said.
Smith, who is dubbed the priestess of rock, last took to the stage on Saturday and is due to perform in Venice on Thursday, December 14, per the Italian outlet .
It’s not yet known if the gig will go ahead.
The artist had been traveling around Italy as part of an eight-gig tour.
Smith, from Chicago, is best known for her debut album Horses which was released in 1975.
She wrote the track Because the Night with legendary music star Bruce Springsteen and it reached number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in 1978.
But, her track Rock n Roll N****r caused controversy and it was removed from platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music in October last year.
Smith has been hailed for her punk poetry and her "street-savvy" music and was inducted into the in 2007.
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Smith won a gong at the 1995 ASCAP Pop Music Awards for Horses and has been nominated for Grammy Awards on four separate occasions.
She won an accolade at the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2021 for Horses.
In January, Smith ranked 117 in list of the top 200 greatest singers of all time.
Smith is known for her career in punk rock but told in 2016 that she used to "daydream" about being an opera singer when she was a child.
She said that her parents had nice voices but she didn't think she had a "gift."
Smith added: "But what I did have, I think, always was - I've always, for some reason, been comfortable talking in front of people or performing in front of people.
"And I guess I got a lot of guts, but I never really had that great a voice. I think it's basically guts."
Smith’s music has been an inspiration to famous artists such as Michael Stipe, who was part of the legendary band R.E.M.
Stipe told in 2004 that he had decided to create a band after listening to Horses.