Roberta Joan “Joni” Mitchell was born in Alberta, Canada, on November 7, 1943. She is a singer-songwriter and painter from Canada. Mitchell’s compositions generally focus on social and philosophical objectives and her thoughts about womanhood, romance, disillusionment, and joy, pop, drawing on folk, classical, rock, and jazz influences.
She’s won nine Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997, among other honors. “One of the finest composers ever,” according to Rolling Stone, and “When the dust settles, Joni Mitchell may stand as the most influential and important female music artist of the late twentieth century,” according to AllMusic.
Mitchell began her career singing in small nightclubs in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and Western Canada before going to Toronto, Ontario. In 1965, she relocated to the United States and began traveling. She was signed to Reprise Records in 1968 and recorded her debut album, Song to a Seagull after other folk singers covered a number of her original songs.
On NPR’s selection of the Greatest Albums Made By Women in 2017, Blue was ranked first. For the Roses, Mitchell’s fifth album was released in 1972. In 1974’s Court and Spark, which featured the radio songs “Free Man in Paris” and “Help Me” and became her best-selling album, she switched labels and explored more jazz-influenced melodic themes through beautiful pop textures.
Awards and honors
Mitchell has received numerous awards from her home in Canada. In 1981, she was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. In 1996, she won the highest honor in Canada in the performing arts, the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement.
Mitchell was honored with a star on the Walk of Fame in Canada in 2000. In addition, “Both Sides, Now” was sung at the 2010 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Vancouver on February 12, 2010.
Mitchell was honored with the Kennedy Center Honor for a lifetime of success in the performing arts on December 4, 2021, at the Medallion Ceremony at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Mitchell went to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts the next day to see the show.