Goldsmith was born in
Detroit,
Michigan, in 1948.[4] She attended the
University of Michigan, where she graduated in three years Magna Cum Laude with two degrees in
English and
Psychology.[5] After college, in 1969, Goldsmith worked for
Elektra Records. In 1971, she met Joshua White and worked with him as a director for Joshua TV. That same year, Goldsmith was inducted into the Directors Guild of America. In 1972, she directed
ABC's In Concert. After directing a documentary piece on
Grand Funk Railroad for ABC, she made a film on Grand Funk called We're an American Band in 1973. This led to her becoming the band's co-manager.
In the mid-1970s, she left managing and directing to focus on her photography. Goldsmith founded the photo agency LGI, that represented images of famous people in the
entertainment industry. During that time, she also wrote songs and performed as
Will Powers, and was signed to Island Records. In 1997, Goldsmith sold LGI to
Corbis so she could concentrate more fully on her fine art photography and work with the Will Powers Institute.[6]
In 2016, the Andy Warhol Foundation filed a pre-emptive lawsuit in federal court against Goldsmith, who then countersued citing copyright infringement of a portrait of Prince she'd taken in 1981. The Foundation argued that Warhol's "fair use" of the image was under copyright law because Warhol "transformed" the image.[9]
The Warhol Foundation won in federal court and Goldsmith appealed and won in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The Foundation appealed the decision, and Goldsmith won again. The Warhol Foundation then filed an appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States. The case was heard on October 20, 2022.[10][11] The decision of the court would affect all of the arts and that is why Goldsmith claims she took on this costly legal battle for seven years. On May 18, 2023, the Supreme Court sided with Goldsmith in a 7–2 vote. [12]