Legendary singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell is widely considered folk royalty for her highly prolific, and widely acclaimed, decades-spanning career.
The Canadian-born artist started off playing small clubs throughout Canada and the United States. In the early 1960s while playing one night at a club in Coconut Grove, Florida, David Crosby walked in and was immediately struck by her ability and her appeal as an artist. He took her back to Los Angeles, where he set about introducing her and her music to his friends. In 1968 she recorded her first self-titled album, produced by Crosby, and many highly successful albums were quick to follow. In 1969 she won her first Grammy Award for best folk performance for her sophomore album, Clouds. Her third album, Ladies of the Canyon, was a mainstream success for the folk singer, becoming her first gold album, which included the hits “The Circle Game” and “Big Yellow Taxi.”
It was during this time she was already starting to experiment with pop and rock genres. Throughout her career she has garnered several Grammys in various categories, including traditional pop, pop music and lifetime achievement. Her album Court and Spark (1974) signaled her foray into jazz and jazz fusion and was lauded by critics; it ended up becoming her most commercially successful project to date and was nominated for four Grammy Awards, of which Mitchell won for best instrumental arrangement accompanying vocalists. Other notable successful recordings include Blue (1971), The Hissing of Summer Lawns (1975), and the highly experimental Hejira (1976).
In 1997 Mitchell was inducted into the Rock and Rock Hall of Fame. In 2007, she earned a spot in the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. That same year she released Shine, her first album of new songs in almost a decade. Politically charged and environmentally conscious, the album was a Billboard success and was Mitchell’s nineteenth and final studio album
I met her at Roger Kellaway’s house in thousand oaks, in 1971/72.