Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell, CC (born Roberta Joan Anderson on November 7, 1943, in Fort Macleod, Alberta, Canada), is a musician, artist, and poet. Joni spent most of her school years in Saskatoon Saskatchewan and then briefly attended the Alberta College of Art at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in Calgary, Alberta. Her writing and art talent emerged before her exposure as a gifted musician performing in Western Canada out of Calgary and then in Toronto. She then associated with the burgeoning folk music scene of the mid-1960s in New York City. Through the 1970s she expanded her horizons, predominantly to pop music and jazz, to become one of the most highly respected singer-songwriters of the late 20th century. She is a multiple time Grammy winner, was awarded the Order of Canada, and also has received a doctorate in music.

Mitchell is also an accomplished visual artist. She has, through photography or painting, created the artwork for each of her albums and has described herself as a "painter derailed by circumstance." A blunt critic of the music industry, Mitchell has stopped recording over the last several years and now focuses mainly on her visual art, although in October 2006 she announced that she is working on material for a new album.

In an October 2006 interview with the Ottawa Citizen, Mitchell apparently "revealed she's recording her first collection of new songs in nearly a decade". She went on, in a different version of the article, to talk about two songs, Holy War and If, based on a poem by Rudyard Kipling. She revealed she has laid down basic tracks for five songs, and will play piano: synthesizers and guitars will be by Mickey Wynne; the album will feature a familiar cast of musicians including Mickey Wynne on guitars Brian Blade on drums and Wayne Shorter.

Mitchell released her latest album "Shine" on September 25, 2007.