The poetic and prolific Joni Mitchell was born Roberta Joan Anderson on November 7, 1943, in Fort Macleod, Alberta. Mitchell took up piano lessons at age seven, and began writing her own music. In addition to music, Mitchell was also a gifted visual artist, and enjoyed painting. At age nine, she moved with her family to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; which she today considers to be her hometown. Also that year, she contracted polio and landed in hospital, where she performed for the first time for other patients. In her teens, Mitchell expanded her audience to include coffeehouses around Saskatoon. After graduating high school, she studied at the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary for one year before returning to Saskatoon.
Once she had returned to Saskatoon, Mitchell became pregnant. After giving birth to her daughter, Kelly Dale Anderson on February 19, 1965, Mitchell gave her up for adoption, and the two would not reunite until 1997. Also in 1965, Mitchell entered into a brief marriage with fellow folk singer, Chuck Mitchell.
Although Mitchell was becoming renowned in the local coffee shop circuit for her evocative lyrics and virtuoso guitar techniques, it was a performance at The Gaslight South club in Florida one night that gave Mitchell her big break. One of the audience members happened to be David Crosby, who was so impressed that he took the up-and-coming singer to Los Angeles and introduced her to his industry contacts.
In 1967, Mitchell left the Canadian prairies for sunny California, where she released her first solo albums, Joni Mitchell (Song to a Seagull) in 1968, and Clouds in 1969. Her third album, Ladies of the Canyon, released in 1970, featured her first hit single, "Big Yellow Taxi." The album also featured the single Woodstock, which Mitchell wrote after missing the event – one of her life’s biggest regrets.
The mid-70s saw Mitchell experimenting with jazz stylization as well as performing in several concerts as part of the Rolling Thunder Revue tours with Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. By the 80s, Mitchell had switched to Geffen Records, and had also married producer, Larry Klein.
Mitchell’s 1988 album, Chalk Mark in a Rainstorm saw the singer putting out an impressive collaborative effort, working with such artists as Willie Nelson, Billy Idol, Tom Petty, Don Henley, and Peter Gabriel.
After ending her contract with Geffen records in the early 90s, Mitchell released a series of Grammy Award-winning albums, Turbulent Indigo in 1994 and Taming the Tiger in 1998, which she promoted through a co-headlining tour with Bob Dylan and Van Morrison.
Mitchell’s work has proven groundbreaking and influential for several other artists. She has been covered by Prince, Mandy Moore, Sarah McLachlan, The Counting Crows, Tori Amos, Amy Grant, Janet Jackson, Diana Krall, and many more.
Mitchell has been inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She is also a recipient of the prestigious Order of Canada and was included in Time magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
In 2006, Mitchell announced that she would be recording new material for the first time in nearly a decade. She currently divides her time between Los Angeles and a cabin in Sechelt, British Columbia.
YUDDY
