Inductee Profile
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At a glance
Born: November 7, 1943Where: Fort McLeod, AB Interesting Note:
While some of Mitchell's most popular songs were written on piano, almost every song she composed on the guitar uses an open, or non-standard, tuning; she has written songs in some 50 different tunings, which she has referred to as "Joni's weird chords."
Mitchell's use of alternative tunings and a highly rhythmic picking/strumming style creates a rich and unique guitar sound. Her right-hand picking/strumming technique has evolved over the years from an initially intricate picking style, typified by the guitar songs on her first album, to a looser and more rhythmic style, sometimes incorporating percussive "slaps", that have been featured on later albums.
Mitchell was also highly innovative harmonically in her early work (1966–72) using techniques including modality, chromaticism, and pedal points.
In 2003 Rolling Stone named her the 72nd greatest guitarist of all time; she was the highest-ranked woman on the list.
Mitchell's work has had an influence on artists as disparate as S. J. Tucker, Led Zeppelin, Nancy Wilson, Sonic Youth, Morrissey, Prince, Chaka Khan, Alanis Morissette, Björk, Counting Crows, Stevie Nicks, Jeff Buckley, Elvis Costello, Dan Fogelberg, Janet Jackson, Maynard James Keenan (Tool), Cyndi Lauper, Annie Lennox, k.d. lang, Madonna, Frank Turner, Cassandra Wilson, Cat Power, George Michael, Marillion, Juice Newton, Conor Oberst, The Roots, Roxette, The Sundays, Clannad, Shawn Colvin, Anita Baker, Fiona Apple, Holly Brook, KT Tunstall, Seal, Tori Amos, Keith Green, Spank Rock, Schuyler Fisk, Kate Voegele, Regina Spektor, Me'Shell Ndegeocello, Keith Jarrett, Slash, Laura Marling, Keri Noble, Joanna Newsom and Sarah Dawn Finer
Madonna has also cited Mitchell as the first female artist that really spoke to her as a teenager; "I was really, really into Joni Mitchell. I knew every word to Court and Spark; I worshiped her when I was in high school. Blue is amazing. I would have to say of all the women I've heard, she had the most profound effect on me from a lyrical point of view."
In 1995, Mitchell received Billboard's Century Award.
In 1996, she was awarded the Polar Music Prize and in 1997, Mitchell was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
She has received nine Grammy Awards during her career, with the first coming in 1969 and the most recent in 2008.
Regarding her as a national treasure, Mitchell's home country Canada has bestowed a number of honours on her. She was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1981.
In 1999 Mitchell was listed as fifth on VH1's list of "The 100 Greatest Women of Rock N' Roll."
In 2002, she received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, with the
citation describing her as "one of the most important female recording
artists of the rock era" and "a powerful influence on all artists who
embrace diversity, imagination and integrity."
In 2002 she became only the third popular Canadian singer/songwriter (Gordon Lightfoot and Leonard Cohen being the other two), to be appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada, Canada's highest civilian honour.
She received an honourary doctorate in music from McGill University in 2004.
In November, 2006, the album Blue was listed by Time magazine as among the "All-Time 100 Albums."
In January 2007 she was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.
In June 2007 Canada Post featured Mitchell on a postage stamp.
In 2010, Vh1 would name her the #44 Greatest Artist of All Time.
Discography
* 1968: Song to a Seagull
* 1969: Clouds
* 1970: Ladies of the Canyon
* 1971: Blue
* 1972: For the Roses
* 1974: Court and Spark
* 1975: The Hissing of Summer Lawns
* 1976: Hejira
* 1977: Don Juan's Reckless Daughter
* 1979: Mingus
* 1982: Wild Things Run Fast
* 1985: Dog Eat Dog
* 1988: Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm
* 1991: Night Ride Home
* 1994: Turbulent Indigo
* 1998: Taming the Tiger
* 2000: Both Sides Now
* 2002: Travelogue
* 2007: Shine
JONI MITCHELL
2000 INDUCTEE
View all inductees from 2000 »It's tempting to herald Joni Mitchell as the finest, most influential singer-songwriter in folk music history. Tempting, but inaccurate; for pigeonholing her within a single music genre is a devaluation of Mitchell's tremendous stylistic diversity. From the incandescent purity of her 1960s paeans to love and peace to the smoky world-weariness of her recent collection of classic ballads, Both Sides Now, Mitchell has defied classification for nearly four decades. Equally at ease, and equally adventurous, in the worlds of rock, pop, jazz and blues, she has always painted on the broadest of canvases.
Born November 7, 1943, in Fort McLeod, Alberta, Roberta Joan Anderson discovered her musical gifts in a rather unusual way. Hospitalized with polio at age nine, she filled her long days of convalescence by singing for the other patients and taught herself to play guitar with the help of an instruction book by American folksinger and political activist Pete Seeger.
After attending art college in Calgary and becoming a fixture of the local folk music scene, Mitchell travelled to Toronto, where, in 1965, she wed folk singer Chuck Mitchell. The marriage didn't stick, but the new last name did. Moving to New York in 1967, Mitchell landed a recording contract with Reprise Records and an offer from David Crosby to produce her self-titled debut album. Despite a growing cult following, Mitchell earned her greatest fame during the late '60s as a songwriter, thanks in large part to Judy Collins' hit version of Both Sides Now and Tom Rush's superb interpretation of The Circle Game.
Mitchell finally earned international recognition as a recording artist with 1970's Ladies Of The Canyon, and strengthened both her commercial and critical standing with the luminous 1971 follow-up, Blue. The following year marked the first of Mitchell's many stylistic changes with the release of the pop-oriented For The Roses and, in 1974, both the classic Court And Spark and the magical Miles Of Aisles, which still ranks as one of the all-time great "live" albums.
Throughout the 1970s and '80s, Mitchell stayed several steps ahead of music trends by experimenting with world music, jazz-fusion, and synthesizer-driven electronics. In 1991, she returned to her acoustic roots with the spare, haunting Night Ride Home, followed in 1994 by the acclaimed Turbulent Indigo. Earlier this year, at age 56, Mitchell took another new, dynamic tack with Both Sides Now, a project inspired by her participation in a big-band benefit organized by rock performer Don Henley, former frontman of the Eagles.
Refreshingly outspoken in her criticism of the recording industry's cut-throat tactics, Mitchell has never allowed commercial success to compromise her exploration of unpaved musical paths. Nor has she ever let music overshadow her passion for art. As gifted a painter as she is a singer and songwriter, Mitchell's superb portraits and watercolours are treasured by collectors and have enhanced many of her album covers.
Trying to summarize the iconoclastic allure of Joni Mitchell in a single sentence is a fool's gambit. There is, however, a moment on the Miles Of Aisles album that comes close to capturing her firefly essence. Teasing the California audience about fans' strange insistence that every performance of a song sound precisely like the original recording, she chides, "Nobody ever said to Van Gogh, "Hey, man, paint A Starry Night again!'" Typically spare and precise, they're the words of a rebel, a fighter, a lover, and a poet who has enriched our lives by always valuing originality and spontaneity above all else.
