It’s Joni Mitchell’s birthday – the music icon is 80 years old

Joni Mitchell sat like a queen in a pompous armchair on the stage of the Newport Folk Festival last year. The “Big Yellow Taxi” singer hadn’t given a concert for a good 20 years. But here she was, the legend himself. Maybe not quite as lively as he used to be, but Mitchell can be that way at an advanced age. The Canadian turns 80 on Tuesday.

Joni Mitchell, originally Roberta Joan Anderson, was born on November 7, 1943 in Fort Macleod in the Canadian province of Alberta, the daughter of a teacher and a grocer. She initially studied commercial art in her home country before moving to Toronto in 1964. Young Joni performed in local folk clubs and coffeehouses. And she met a man – but her marriage to folk singer Chuck Mitchell didn’t last long. Mitchell then moved to New York City.

Joni Mitchell: “Music shouldn’t hit you straight away. It should last a lifetime”

Here she released her debut album “Songs to a Seagull” in the late 1960s. This concept album, produced by David Crosby, was celebrated for the maturity of its lyrics – but the big breakthrough failed to materialize. Still. In 1969 Mitchell played for the first time at the Newport Festival in Rhode Island. Cash Box magazine noted at the time: “She is on her way to becoming a star.” And the press predicted correctly: the Canadian’s career revived with each album – from “Clouds” (1969) to the million-selling “Blue” (1971). In the early ’70s, Mitchell began experimenting with pop, rock and jazz, culminating in Court and Spark (1974), her best-selling album. As an experimental singer-songwriter, she experienced her greatest popularity during this time.

Mitchell has also been described as the “Yang to Bob Dylan’s Yin” and to this day she is credited with playing a guiding role for the “Woodstock Generation”. Because Mitchell turned pop music into an art form. Not only did her hits like “Big Yellow Taxi” and “Woodstock” make her famous, but she is also considered a sophisticated conceptual artist with complex albums. “Music shouldn’t take effect immediately. It should last a lifetime, like a fine fabric,” she once said.

At the end of the 70s, Mitchell withdrew somewhat from the pop world and turned to jazz and later more to painting. In the later years of her career, Mitchell returned to more personal themes musically, such as on her Grammy-winning 1994 record “Turbulent Indigo.” And when Janet Jackson sampled “Big Yellow Taxi” in her song “Got ’til It’s Gone,” Mitchell is also known again among the new young generation.

After a severe brain aneurysm in 2015: Mitchell is fighting his way back to life with hiking and ping pong

She certainly has a place in history – inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and awarded a Grammy for her life’s work.

Mitchell’s fans also see her as an artist of great human quality, with integrity and independence, who was never afraid to swim against the tide. Last but not least, her song line “They paved paradise to put up a parking lot” from “Big Yellow Taxi” represents Mitchell’s love of nature and criticism of its destruction. Mitchell also shared personal tragedies with the world. So she became pregnant early and gave her daughter up for adoption, but met her again years later.

To this day, Mitchell invites friends to jam sessions in her home – most recently including superstar Bette Midler, as she revealed to “Interview Magazine”. To stay fit after a severe brain aneurysm in 2015, she also hikes a lot. Therapy also includes ping pong: “First we climb the hill, up and down, and if time allows, we then play four games.”