Singer Joni Mitchell, who was born Roberta Joan Anderson on November 7, 1943, in Fort McCloud, Alberta, wasn’t a musically inclined youngster. Her mother wanted her to follow in the footsteps of her musician father, but Mitchell thought she was more artistic and chose to study at an art college.
She frequented a coffee shop where jazz music was performed during that time. At first, she didn’t like it, but the more music she listened to, the more she loved it. She didn’t initially take to the jazz, describing herself as the “rock and roller, teeny-bop go to dances on Saturday night type.”
She asked the lead singer of a certain band to teach her how to play the guitar after noticing them one night. He replied “no,” so Mitchell made the decision to teach herself.
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.
She soon began performing at folk festivals and in other Canadian cities.
Mitchell met her husband Chuck Mitchell when she first began her music career. The two formed a duo, although their union was short-lived. Mitchell gave birth to a daughter she gave up for adoption during the two years they were married, and after the divorce, she continued to use Chuck’s last name.
“I was forced to place her for adoption. She continued, “You know, like, ‘because I couldn’t get enough money together.
“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.
Mitchell was greatly saddened by having to leave her baby, but she believed it to be the appropriate decision at the moment. But they didn’t actually meet until 1997, 32 years later.
Mitchell noted at the time of the reunion, “I’ve experienced grief and joy, but nothing like this. “It’s an emotional feeling like no other.”
Kilauren Gibb, her daughter, was equally as shocked to see her long-lost mother.
“It was wonderful, a great relief to me in every way, it made me feel whole,” Kilauren added. “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.
Both Sides, Now, one of Mitchell’s best and most well-known songs, was about her daughter and all that led up to her decision to place her for adoption.
Both Sides, Now gained enormous popularity. This amazing piece of music was covered by musical greats like Frank Sinatra, Neil Diamond, and Judy Collins.
Mitchell spent the 1970s hanging around with various celebrities in storied locations like Lookout Mountain, Lauren Canyon, and Los Angeles. She was close friends with Tom Petty, Carole King, Eric Clapton, Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, Mama Cass of The Mamas and the Papas, and Mama Cass.
It was unusual that so many successful musicians lived in such close proximity to one another. According to Johnny Echols of the band Love, “It was really a place and time that could never happen again. It was just fortunate and serendipitous.”
Joni Mitchell had a long career, releasing 19 studio albums, winning nine Grammys, and being nominated for 17 more. She was admitted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. She was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame ten years later.
Because to her ongoing health concerns, Joni Mitchell no longer performs. Mitchell suffered polio when she was a small child and became wheelchair-bound.
“Like a train disaster, my spine was twisted up. I could not move. I became immobile. It returns with a vengeance forty years later,” she observed in 1995.
It reminds me of multiple sclerosis. Your muscles start to atrophy, and your electrical system burns down. It denotes imminent paraplegia.
She currently has a skin issue that she calls an “outer space condition.”
According to the Mayo Clinic, Mitchell was diagnosed with Morgellons Disease, which is characterised by sores, crawling sensations on and beneath the skin, and fiber-like filaments emerging from the sores.
In 2010, Mitchell told the Los Angeles Times, “I have this strange, incurable disease that seems to be from outer space, but my health’s the best it’s been in a while.”
The fibers that sprout from my skin in a variety of colors are like mushrooms that appear after a downpour 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.
She experienced a brain aneurysm in 2015, which momentarily put her in a wheelchair.
Fortunately, she is now feeling better. She attended the 2022 Grammy Awards in Las Vegas on April 3, 2022, and there she accepted the Best Historical Album trophy for her release Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 1: The Early Years (1963–1967).
The illustrious vocalist is worth $100 million.
Even though Joni Mitchell is still dealing with health issues after going through so much in her life, she always prevails because she is a warrior.
