Priestess Of Rock, 76, Patti Smith, Is Hospitalized Due To ‘Sudden Illness’ During Italian Tour

Priestess Of Rock Patti Smith was hospitalized in Bologna on Tuesday due to a ‘sudden illness’ during her recent Italian tour.

The 76-year-old singer was supposed to perform at the Duse theater, but according to TGCom 24she is kept under observation and the show is cancelled.

The theater released a statement saying: ‘It is with great regret that we inform the friendly audience that Patti Smith’s concert will not be able to take place on stage due to a sudden illness that has affected the artist.

‘We are all sorry for the inconvenience this news causes. Our best wishes for a speedy recovery go to the artist.”

Patti’s most recent performance was at the Modena Cathedral on Saturday evening, part of an eight-day Italian tour.

She will then perform at the Malibran Theater in Venice on Thursday, December 14.

However, it is not yet clear whether she will be good enough to perform.

MailOnline has contacted a spokesperson for Patti for more information.

Last year, a controversial Patti song could no longer be downloaded via streaming services.

The song ‘Rock n Roll N****r’, which was released alongside the Patti Smith Group’s 1978 album ‘Easter’, was removed by Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal and Amazon Music.

Patti has said in previous interviews that she intended to use the N-word as a way to “reinvent it… like the kids did with the word punk.”

She said in 1996: ‘I took this archaic use of the word n****r and kind of reinvented it.

“It was the idea of ​​taking a word that was specific and hurtful to people and erasing it, blowing it up and reinventing it so that it looked more like a sign of courage.”

In the song, Smith uses the N-word to describe Jimi Hendrix, Jesus Christ “and also grandma,” before saying the word eight times in a row.

Bob Dylan used the word in his song Hurricane, released two years earlier. Dylan’s tune, which depicts racist acts against boxer Rubin ‘Hurricane’ Carter, was recently censored by the BBC in its broadcast.

Patti first gained fame for the song – despite the initial controversy surrounding the song’s release – when she used the N-word to describe Mick Jagger.

In defense of this, Smith said, “On our liner notes, I redefined the word n****r as an artist mutant that went beyond gender.”

When the interviewer asked her that Jagger didn’t suffer “like everyone else who grew up in Harlem,” she replied, “Suffering doesn’t make you an****r.”

“I mean, I grew up poor too. … Do you think black people are better than white people or something? I grew up around black people. It’s like I can walk down the street and say to a kid, “Hey n****r.”

‘I don’t have any super respect or fear for that kind of thing. When I say such statements, they are not intended to be analyzed, because they are more ready-made humorous statements.’

She defended these statements twenty years later, adding that she intended to undermine the meaning of the word.

“You could have mentioned Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci an****r – people who made art for the palace but had to come in through the back door,” she said.

‘Beethoven was not allowed to enter through the front door of the palace.’

Despite the individual song being removed from streaming services, it is still available in the physical copy of the album.

It is also available if you purchase the album in full online.

Other artists have since covered the song, including Marilyn Manson, Esham, the Oxydants and Courtney Love. Trent Reznor remixed the song for the 1994 film ‘Natural Born Killers’.

Versions of Smith singing the song are still accessible, as unofficial versions of studio recordings are available to the public.

The song’s lyrics make Smith proud of being an outcast: “I was lost and the cost, and the cost didn’t matter to me

“I was lost and the price was to be left out of society.”