Lenny Kaye (born December 27, 1946) is an American guitarist, composer and writer who is best known as a member of the Patti Smith Group. Kaye has been Smith's most frequent collaborator since 1971, when they performed their first poetry reading together. He wrote the liner notes and assembled the tracks for Nuggets (1972), which included one of the first uses of the term "Punk rock". He has been nominated three times for Grammy Award for Best Album Notes for boxed sets on the Bleecker & MacDougal, Crossroads and Elektrock.