Joni Mitchell, CC (born November 7, 1943, as Roberta Joan Anderson in Fort Macleod, Alberta) is a Canadian musician and painter. She is considered one of the most significant singer-songwriters of the 1970s and 1980s. She accompanies herself on the guitar and piano; in the early 1970s, she also played the dulcimer.
Life
Childhood
Joni Mitchell grew up in a small Canadian town as the only child of a store owner and a village schoolteacher. In 1951, there was a polio epidemic, and at the age of eight, she contracted polio, as did five-year-old Neil Young. The result was a slight paralysis of her left hand, which is why she preferred to use open tunings when playing the guitar. Later, she said:
“My left hand is a bit clumsy because of polio. I had to simplify the chords for the left hand, but I longed for chord progressions that I couldn’t achieve with standard tuning without an extremely flexible left hand.”
– Joni Mitchell
She has been a smoker since she was nine years old. When she was 11, her family moved to Saskatoon. Songs by Pete Seeger had a big influence on her.
1960s
In 1962, she began studying art in Calgary and bought a ukulele. On Halloween 1962, she had her first paid performance in a café in Saskatoon. She was aware of her visual impact. In 2015, she said:
“Life is hard when you’re beautiful.” You’re better off if you look average. And you have a better chance of finding true love.
– Joni Mitchell
When she became pregnant, she dropped out of her studies. She kept the pregnancy secret from her conservative family and gave the child, born on February 19, 1965, up for adoption. In 1997, she found her biological daughter again, but the relationship broke down in 2001.
In 1965, Mitchell met her future husband, Chuck Mitchell, a folk singer from Michigan. With him, she moved to Detroit in the USA, where they made music together. However, the young couple did not stay together for long, and during the time of their separation, she wrote her first songs. In 1968, the marriage was dissolved.
In October 1965, she met Neil Young in Winnipeg, with whom she formed a friendship from then on. His song “Sugar Mountain” soon became part of her repertoire, and her “Circle Game” is considered a response to this song. In 1973, Young dedicated his song “Sweet Joni” to her. On her later album Hejira, he played harmonica, and in 1976, there was also a surprising first joint live performance.
The artist went to New York and quickly became an insider tip in the local club scene with her songs, which in the 1960s in Greenwich Village was the hub of folk music. Here she began an intense love affair with her compatriot Leonard Cohen, which lasted barely a year. Cohen introduced her to the works of Federico García Lorca and Albert Camus, which influenced her songwriting at the time. Joni Mitchell also wrote several songs about her relationship with Cohen, including “Chelsea Morning,” “Rainy Nite House,” and “A Case Of You.” David Crosby, who had left the Byrds and was now part of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, offered to produce her first album, which was released in 1968. Their fame spread across the United States. In the folk scene, she quickly gained cult status, which continues to this day.
In 1968, she lived in Laurel Canyon, where she met Graham Nash, who admired her as a songwriter. With him, she had a two-year relationship, which is what the song “My Old Man” from the album “Blue” is about. Nash, for his part, wrote the CSN&Y piece “Our House” about Joni’s piano, which appeared on the album Déjà Vu.
In 1969, she was invited to perform at the legendary Woodstock Festival. However, she was unable to reach the festival grounds due to the enormous crowds. Stirred by the energy that radiated from this festival to the entire generation, she wrote the anthem for the festival with the song “Woodstock.” Matthews Southern Comfort (No. 1 in the UK singles chart) and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young had big hits with cover versions of the song. Joni Mitchell also influenced other musicians. For example, the Scottish rock band Nazareth had a single hit in 1974 with a cover version of her song “This Flight Tonight” from the album Blue. In 1967, she wrote the hit “Both Sides Now” for Judy Collins, which she also sang herself with guitar accompaniment in 1968 (album Clouds).
1970s
In the first half of the 1970s, Mitchell had great artistic and commercial success, starting with the album Ladies of the Canyon (1970). From the summer of 1970 to the spring of 1971, she had a relationship with James Taylor. The breakup of this relationship due to Taylor’s success was addressed on Blue (1971), which, like For the Roses (1972) and Court and Spark (1974), was successful. After her relationship with Jackson Browne ended, she attempted suicide in 1972. The songs “Car On A Hill” and “Trouble Child” deal with this phase of her life.
With the album The Hissing of Summer Lawns (1975), jazz influences were added to folk music. At that time, she was in a relationship with John Guerin, which led to their engagement.
In 1976, she participated in The Band’s farewell concert, The Last Waltz, with her song “Coyote.”
On the 1976 album Hejira with Jaco Pastorius, the 1977 album Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter, and the 1979 tribute album Mingus (for Charles Mingus), the jazz influence continued. During this time, she had a relationship with Don Alias.
1980s
While Mitchell had released an album almost annually in the 1970s, from 1980 onward, it happened only every three years. In the 1980s, there was a stronger influence of rock music, promoted by David Geffen.
In 1982, she married bassist Larry Klein; the marriage lasted twelve years.
The album Dog Eat Dog (1985) was produced by Thomas Dolby at the suggestion of Geffen Records. However, Mitchell found it difficult to assert her musical ideas against Dolby:
“He may be able to do it better, but the fact is, it wouldn’t really be my music then.”
– Joni Mitchell
1990s
On July 21, 1990, she sang the part “Goodbye Blue Sky” at Roger Waters’ live concert The Wall in Berlin.
Since 2000
In her later years, Mitchell devoted herself almost exclusively to painting.
In 2002, the double album Travelog was released, inspired by the attacks of September 11, 2001. It contains a collection of songs from three decades. Joni Mitchell was accompanied by a 70-piece orchestra and jazz musicians such as Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter during the recordings. She announced that this would be her last album and that she was tired of the music industry. She now wants to devote herself entirely to painting, which she has never lost sight of throughout her life.
Contrary to the announcement, Joni Mitchell recorded the album “Shine” in early 2007 with almost entirely new material, which was released in the fall of 2007 and musically represents a return to her own musical roots.
In April 2010, she publicly revealed in an interview that she suffers from Morgellons disease.
“I am a painter who writes songs.” My songs are very visual. The words create scenes – in cafes and bars – in dark little rooms – on moonlit shores – in kitchens – in hospitals and on fairgrounds. They take place in vehicles – planes and trains and cars.”
– Joni Mitchell
In 2014, at the age of 71, Joni Mitchell released a box set with four CDs, in which she rearranged pieces from 40 years. The collection is called “Love Has Many Faces,” with the subtitle “A Quartet, A Ballet, Waiting To Be Danced.” It is meant to represent a ballet in four acts, which has not yet been performed.
At the end of March 2015, Joni Mitchell suffered a stroke. In February 2017, she appeared at the annual Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Gala in Los Angeles, accompanied by Cameron Crowe.
Trivia
Joni Mitchell has lived in Los Angeles since 1967, where she initially resided in a small house in the Laurel Canyon neighborhood. The alternative lifestyle there inspired her in 1970 to create her album “Ladies of the Canyon.” In 1974, she acquired a villa with a large garden in the Bel Air district. The house was built in the 1920s in the Spanish style.
Awards
- Three of Joni Mitchell’s albums have won a Grammy.
- In 1981, she was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.
- In 1996, she received the Polar Music Prize.
- In 1997, Joni Mitchell was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
- 2000 star on Canada’s Walk of Fame
- In 2002, she received an honorary Grammy for her lifetime achievements as one of the outstanding artists of the 20th century (Lifetime Achievement Award).
- In 2015, she received the SFJAZZ Lifetime Achievement Award.
- Rolling Stone ranked Mitchell 62nd among the 100 greatest musicians, 42nd among the 100 greatest singers, 75th among the 100 greatest guitarists, and 9th among the
- 100 greatest songwriters of all time.
- 2018 Honorary Doctorate from the University of Saskatchewan
