Here is a look at the life of singer, songwriter and painter Joni Mitchell.
Personal
Birth date: November 7, 1943
Birth place: Fort Macleod, Alberta, Canada
Birth name: Roberta Joan Anderson
Father: William “Bill” Anderson, Air Force officer and grocer
Mother: Myrtle (McKee) Anderson, teacher
Marriages: Larry Klein, (1982-1994, divorced); Chuck Mitchell (1965-1967, divorced)
Children: with Brad MacMath: Kelly Dale Anderson (renamed Kilauren Gibb), 1965
Education: Attended Alberta College of Art in Calgary, 1963-1964
Other Facts
Taught herself to play guitar, ukulele and dulcimer.
She is known for her difficult musical compositions, alternative guitar tunings and uncommon chord changes.
Nominated for 18 Grammy Awards and won nine, plus received a lifetime achievement award.
Although one of her more popular songs is called “Woodstock,” she was not present at the famous 1969 music festival.
Her own paintings and drawings have been featured on some of her album covers, as well as those of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.
Contracted polio at age 9.
Timeline
March 1968 – Her first album, “Song for a Seagull,” is released. The album is also known as “Joni Mitchell.”
March 11, 1970 – Wins a Grammy Award for Best Folk Performance or Recording for “Clouds.”
March 1, 1975 – Wins a Grammy Award for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) for “Down to You.”
1977 – Begins a collaboration with jazz musician Charlie Mingus on an interpretation of T.S. Eliot’s “Four Quartets.” Mingus dies of Lou Gehrig’s disease before the completion of the project, but Mitchell finishes the album. “Mingus” is released in 1979.
February 28, 1996 – Wins a Grammy Award for Best Pop Album, as well as a Grammy for Best Recording Package with “Turbulent Indigo.”
March 1997 – Mitchell and the daughter she gave up for adoption, now known as Kilauren Gibb, are reunited after 32 years apart.
May 1997 – Is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
February 21, 2001- Wins a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for “Both Sides Now.”
2002 – Receives a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
2007 – Composes the music for “The Fiddle and the Drum” with the Alberta Ballet.
September 25, 2007 – Releases her last studio album, “Shine.”
February 10, 2008 – Wins a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Performance for “One Week Last Summer” and receives another Grammy for her contribution to Herbie Hancock’s Album of the Year winner, “River: The Joni Letters.”
April 22, 2010 – In a Los Angeles Times article, Mitchell describes suffering from a “weird, incurable disease” called Morgellons. She describes the symptoms as “fibers in a variety of colors protrude out of my skin like mushrooms after a rainstorm: they cannot be forensically identified as animal, vegetable or mineral.”
2010 – Mitchell’s song, “Both Sides Now,” is featured in the opening ceremonies for the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver.
March 31, 2015 – Mitchell is hospitalized after being found unconscious in her Los Angeles home.
June 2015 – A conservator for Mitchell issues a statement that the musician has suffered a brain aneurysm, but is expected to make a full recovery.
February 15, 2016 – Wins the Grammy for Best Album Notes, for “Love Has Many Faces: A Quartet, A Ballet, Waiting to Be Danced.”
August 20, 2016 – Attends a Chick Corea concert in Los Angeles; it’s the first time she has been spotted in public since her brain aneurysm.
October 2017 – David Yaffe’s biography “Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell,” is published. The book draws on interviews with Mitchell, as well as friends from her childhood and famous peers that inspired her songs.
November 6-7, 2018 – Artists gather to celebrate the 75th birthday of Mitchell at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. The lineup includes Emmylou Harris, Kris Kristofferson, Graham Nash, James Taylor, Rufus Wainwright and Brandi Carlile.
February 7, 2019 – “The Music Center Presents Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration” is shown in movie theaters for one night. The special includes the entire concert and interviews with the artists.
December 5, 2021 – Receives the Kennedy Center Honors.
April 3, 2022 – Wins the Grammy for Best Historical Album, for “Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 1: The Early Years (1963-1967).”
July 25, 2022 – Performs at the Newport Folk Festival.
March 1, 2023 – Is awarded the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.
June 10, 2023 – Headlines “Joni Jam,” a concert hosted by Brandi Carlile at the Gorge Amphitheater in Gorge, Washington.
January 28, 2024 – The Recording Academy announces Mitchell will perform at the Grammy Awards for the first time ever on February 4.