Patti Smith isn’t like the rest of us. Blame it on the childhood bout with scarlet fever that left her with recurring hallucinations a few years after her birth, in 1946.

Or perhaps on her view of faith. “They were open-minded people,” she once said. “They had interests that ranged from horse racing to religion to UFOs,” causing Smith to pursue religion for most of her childhood – but never catch it.

“I started out as a missionary, but I couldn’t find a religion that didn’t promise things to some people to the exclusion of others. The personal voyage into some kind of light shouldn’t be denied to anybody.”