When Joni Mitchell released her debut album, it instantly became a cult classic. The iconic vocalist is regarded as one of the most important musicians of the 1960s and 1970s with songs like “Both Sides Now” and “Big Yellow Taxi” under her credit. She has persisted in inspiring others ever since.
Mitchell has had a difficult decade, including being diagnosed with a mysterious illness that she described as being “from outer space,” despite the fact that her place in music history cannot be contested. She recently made her first appearance in public in a very long time. Just know that she still looks fantastic at 78!
Roberta Joan Anderson became Joni Mitchell on November 7, 1943 in Fort McCloud, Alberta. Her parents, Myrtle and Bill Anderson, only had one kid. It appears that Joni was destined for a career in music from the start.
So, how did Joni Mitchell become well-known? What made her decide to place her daughter for adoption, too? This is all there is to know about the renowned musician!
Joni Mitchell’s life certainly wasn’t easy to begin with. She contracted polio at age nine and was confined to a wheelchair. At the hospital, she started singing to other kids, but the other patients didn’t seem to enjoy her first “performances.”
“Like a train disaster, my spine was twisted up. I could not move. I became immobile. It returns with a vengeance forty years later,” Mitchell stated in 1995.
It reminds me of multiple sclerosis. Your muscles start to atrophy, and your electrical system burns down. It denotes imminent paraplegia.
I have to guard my energies, she continued. similar to the battery advertising bunnies. The one who is about to pass out is me. I’m not the one who keeps moving forward.
When Joni was a young girl, her family relocated to Maidstone, a tiny community in Saskatchewan. They then relocated once more, first to Battleford and then to Saskatoon. Given that her father also worked in the industry, Joni’s mother, Myrtle, has always encouraged her to pursue a career in music.
When Joni was a little boy, he played trumpet in marching bands. Young Joni had piano lessons, but she was more interested in painting and eventually attended art school.
But even when her parents weren’t around, music was a big part of her life.
Mitchell eventually started frequenting a coffee shop to hear some jazz. She didn’t particularly like jazz and referred to herself as the “rock and roller, teeny-bop go to dances on Saturday night kind.”
Even still, she kept going back to the same spot repeatedly, which turned out to be probably the most crucial choice she ever made.
When a particular band captured her interest one night, Joni requested that the lead singer of the band teach her how to play the guitar. Joni insisted on learning to play by herself as he didn’t want to. There was only one significant barrier.
My mother believed that the guitar was associated with country and western music, which was perceived as being rather hillbilly-like in those parts, so I went out and got a ukulele, she remembered.
“I got a ukulele for myself, and I played all summer long. After that, I left for art school and began performing with the club’s headlining act, Peter Albling.
As previously said, Joni really studied art, but music quickly took over her life. She obtained engagements in various Canadian cities with Peter Abling, then progressed to performing at folk festivals.
Joni then met Chuck Mitchell not long after. They went to Detroit, Michigan, where they started working together after falling in love. In their 1965 marriage, Joni adopted his last name. She retained the surname even though the pair was divorced only two years later.
At about the same time, Joni gave birth to a daughter as well, but she chose to place her for adoption. Mitchell found this period of her life to be quite difficult, and it actually served as some of the inspiration for one of her best-known songs, Both Sides, Now.
“I’ve already experienced some awful things. You’re aware of my daughter’s passing. My marriage was not healthy. You know, love is an illusion,” Joni said in reference to the song, adding that she had given up her daughter in order to provide for her better future.
“I was forced to place her for adoption. Because I couldn’t get together enough money, you know,” she said.
“You know, I married this guy to kind of keep her, and then I thought, ‘No, no, no. This is a bad place to live. She would be better off elsewhere, you know, than to join in on this, so I don’t want to pull her into it. I had to leave this marriage right away. You know it’s not working. You know, we got married for the wrong reasons. Each of us
Years later, in 1997, Kilauren Gibb, her daughter, and Joni got back together.
In the midst of the reunion, Joni Mitchell remarked, “I’ve experienced both joy and grief in my life, but nothing like this. “It’s an emotional feeling like no other.”
Kilauren continued, “It was lovely, a big relief to me in every way, it made me feel whole.
“I felt whole after it. I don’t have any goals in mind. I entered this situation with no expectations; all I wanted was to locate my mother.
In addition to her first wedding, 1965 was a significant year for Joni. She was writing songs for her debut solo album at the time and was also working on it.
She released the now-famous David Crosby-produced album Joni Mitchell, also known as Song to a Seagull, in 1968.
The next year, Mitchell’s second album, Clouds, which featured the massive single Both Sides Now, increased her notoriety. She received a Grammy Award for Best Folk Performance for the album, which peaked at No. 31 on the Billboard Top 200 album list. She gave a performance at the renowned Woodstock Festival in Bethel, New York, in 1969.
With the release of the album Ladies of the Canyon, which included songs like Big Yellow Taxi and The Circle Game, more success followed. Her previous music had primarily appealed to folk aficionados, but she was now also reaching a wider audience.
Both Sides, Now by Mitchell, whose cover version by Judy Collins also became a big hit, took on a life of its own. The song was covered by other musicians, including Frank Sinatra and Neil Diamond, and Joni was at her happiest at the time.
Los Angeles, Lauren Canyon, and Lookout Mountain all attained considerable notoriety in the 1970s. Mitchell socialized with other celebrities like Tom Petty, Carole King, Mama Cass from The Mamas and the Papas, Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys, and Eric Clapton.
LA not only developed into a hub for musicians to congregate, but it also played a significant role in the development of music. The artists’ creativity merged, spawning original songs and musical experimentation.
It was unusual that so many successful musicians lived in such close proximity to one another. The band Love’s Johnny Echols said, “It was really a location and moment that could never happen again. It was really fortunate and serendipitous.
Furthermore, according to the famous adage by Joni Mitchell, “Ask anyone in America where the craziest people live, and they’ll tell you California, ask anyone in California where the craziest people live, and they’ll reply Los Angeles. Anyone in Los Angeles will tell you that Hollywood is where the wildest people reside, and anyone in Hollywood will respond that Laurel Canyon is where the strangest people reside.
“Everyone in Laurel Canyon will tell you that Lookout Mountain is home to the weirdest residents. I then purchased a home on Lookout Mountain.”
With the release of many albums, notably the experimental Hejira, which she described as the “sweet loneliness of solo journey,” Mitchell’s success story continued throughout the 1970s.
All told, the 19 studio albums the Canadian native has recorded have garnered 19 Grammy nominations and nine wins. Mitchell was admitted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. She was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame ten years later.
Mitchell’s songs have been recorded by a wide range of stars, and in addition to writing and recording many hits, her music has served as an inspiration to other musicians.
2007 saw the release of her most recent album, Shine. It turned out to be her final record since Joni stated that consequences from her early polio ailment and a crushed larynx prevented her from singing any more.
Joni also disclosed that she had a very unusual and mysterious skin condition. She sought medical attention for a condition known as Morgellons Disease, which the Mayo Clinic describes as having sores, a feeling of something crawling on and under the skin, and fiber-like filaments coming out of the sores.
In 2010, Mitchell told the Los Angeles Times, “I have this strange, incurable disease that looks to be from outer space, yet my health’s the greatest it’s been in a while.”
“Two nights ago, I went out for the first time since December 23. Under incandescent light, I don’t seem too bad, but in daylight, I look frightful.
The fibers that sprout from my skin in a variety of hues are like mushrooms that appear after a rainstorm and cannot be classified as being either animal, vegetable, or mineral by forensic analysis. A terrorist disease, Morgellons will blow up one of your organs, leaving you bedridden for a year. It is a slow, unpredictable murderer. “I’ve been through another pandemic; I’m a polio survivor, so I know how conservative the medical community can be,” she continued. “However, I have a strong drive to live.”
“In America, Morgellons is always classified as a ‘delusion of parasites,’ and a psychiatrist is recommended. I’m genuinely wanting to leave the music industry so that I can fight for Morgellons patients to get the respect they deserve.”
Mitchell experienced another difficult setback in 2015 after experiencing a brain aneurysm. She claimed that she was still having trouble walking five years later.
I was unable to move once again. I had to rediscover how. I was unable to speak, Joni said.
“Polio didn’t capture me like that; the aneurysm, in reality, took much more away from me. removed both my capacity to speak and walk. And while I immediately regained my speech, I continue to have trouble walking. I mean, I’m a fighter, but. I’m of Irish ancestry! As a result, I was aware that “here I go again, another battle.”
The 78-year-old Joni seems to be doing well as of right now. The iconic singer made an appearance at the 2022 Grammy Awards in Las Vegas on April 3, 2022.
For her album Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 1: The Early Years (1963–1967), Mitchell took home the trophy for Best Historical Album at the gala and accepted it on stage. Wow, she still has a stunning appearance.
Mitchell’s net worth is estimated to be approximately $100 million by Celebrity Net Worth.
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