Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell had a daughter, Kelly Dale Anderson, in February 1965 and placed her for adoption. The daughter was later renamed Kilauren Gibb, and Mitchell reunited with her in 1997 after Gibb had begun searching for her biological parents. Mitchell explored the experience of separation and reunion in songs including "Little Green" and "Chinese Cafe."

Mitchell was married to folk singer Chuck Mitchell from 1965 until their divorce in early 1967. She later married bassist and sound engineer Larry Klein in 1982, and they divorced in 1994. In March 2015, Mitchell suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm and underwent physical therapy and rehabilitation during her recovery.

Mitchell began performing in Saskatchewan and western Canada before moving to Toronto in 1964. Her first professional performance took place in Saskatoon in 1962, and she later played folk clubs, coffeehouses, church basements, and YMCA halls. After other performers claimed popular songs as their own, she decided to write original material, establishing the songwriting practice that became central to her career.

She moved to the United States in 1965 and later settled in New York City as a solo performer. David Crosby helped introduce her to the Los Angeles music scene and produced her debut album, Song to a Seagull, released by Reprise Records in 1968. The album was followed by Clouds in 1969, which included Mitchell's own recordings of "Chelsea Morning," "Both Sides, Now," and "Tin Angel."

Mitchell's early 1970s work established her as a major album artist. Ladies of the Canyon included "Big Yellow Taxi," "Woodstock," and "The Circle Game," while Blue, released in 1971, brought together highly confessional songs such as "River," "A Case of You," and "The Last Time I Saw Richard." Blue was later ranked third in Rolling Stone's 2020 list of the 500 greatest albums and was selected by NPR as the greatest album made by a woman.

With Court and Spark in 1974, Mitchell expanded her sound toward jazz and jazz fusion. The album became her best-selling release and produced the hit songs "Help Me" and "Free Man in Paris." She toured with the L.A. Express and released the live double album Miles of Aisles in 1974.

Mitchell's music became increasingly harmonically and rhythmically complex during the mid-1970s. The Hissing of Summer Lawns examined social life through layered arrangements, while Hejira developed a more open, experimental sound during a period when Mitchell was working with bassist Jaco Pastorius. She also collaborated with jazz musicians including Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, and Charles Mingus.

Mingus invited Mitchell to collaborate on his final project, and she completed the resulting album after his death in 1979. Her work with jazz musicians continued on albums including Don Juan's Reckless Daughter and Mingus, which challenged the boundaries between folk, rock, and jazz. Mitchell also designed and painted many of her album covers, and from the 1980s onward she devoted increasing attention to painting and other visual art.

Mitchell continued to release albums through Shine in 2007, moving between pop, electronic music, jazz, social commentary, and environmental themes. Her later catalogue includes Turbulent Indigo, which won two Grammy Awards, Both Sides Now, an orchestral treatment of standards and earlier songs, and Travelogue, which reworked a broad selection of her previous material. Janet Jackson's 1997 song "Got 'Til It's Gone" sampled "Big Yellow Taxi," introducing Mitchell's work to a younger pop audience.

After her aneurysm, Mitchell approved archival projects including the Joni Mitchell Archives series and retrospective collections of her recordings, lyrics, poetry, and artwork. She returned to public performance with a surprise appearance at the Newport Folk Festival in 2022, her first full-length concert in 22 years. The performance was released as Joni Mitchell at Newport, which won the Grammy Award for Best Folk Album in 2024. Mitchell also received the Kennedy Center Honor in 2021, the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in 2023, and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002.

Mitchell's guitar writing is distinguished by her use of open and alternate tunings. She developed many of these tunings partly because polio had weakened her left hand, and she used them to create unusual chords, harmonies, and rhythmic patterns. She wrote songs in approximately 50 tunings and combined guitar, piano, vocals, and later electronic instruments in highly individual arrangements.

Her work has influenced artists including Prince, Madonna, Taylor Swift, Björk, Alanis Morissette, Lorde, Harry Styles, and Diana Krall. Her songs have also been recorded by artists such as Judy Collins, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Crosby, Stills and Nash, and James Taylor. Mitchell was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997, named a Companion of the Order of Canada in 2002, and inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1981.