Born as Roberta Joan Anderson on November 7, 1943, in Fort McCloud, Alberta, Joni Mitchell wasn’t always drawn to music. Despite her mother’s wish for her to follow in her musician father’s path, Joni pursued her passion for the arts at an art college.
In those days, she often visited a coffee shop where jazz was played. Initially uninterested, Joni gradually developed a love for the music, although she identified more with the “rock and roller, teeny-bop” scene, attending dances on Saturday nights.
Joni once approached a band’s lead singer, asking to learn guitar. When he declined, she decided to master the instrument herself.
“My mother thought the guitar was linked to country and western music, which seemed rather ‘hillbilly’ in our area,” Joni recalled. Therefore, she opted for a ukulele instead and spent a summer teaching herself to play it. Soon, she joined Peter Albling as a performer at her school’s club.
Her performances quickly extended to folk festivals and various Canadian cities. During her early music career, she met Chuck Mitchell, her future husband. They formed a musical duo, but their marriage was brief. During these two years, Joni gave birth to a daughter, whom she subsequently put up for adoption.
“I had to place her for adoption because I couldn’t gather enough financial support,” Joni explained. “I thought marrying him would help me keep her, but soon realized it wasn’t the right environment for her. It was essential to leave the marriage immediately.”
The decision to give up her daughter was deeply painful for Joni, even though she felt it was the right choice at the time. She would only reunite with her daughter, Kilauren Gibb, 32 years later in 1997.
Joni described their reunion as a unique emotional experience. “Grief and joy have been part of my life, but seeing her was different. It was an unparalleled emotional sensation.”
Kilauren, equally surprised to meet her biological mother, described the meeting as relieving. “I felt complete,” Kilauren said. “I came in without expectations and found my mother, which was all I wanted.”
Joni’s timeless song “Both Sides, Now” was inspired by her daughter and the circumstances leading to the adoption.
“Both Sides, Now” garnered widespread success and was covered by legendary singers like Frank Sinatra, Neil Diamond, and Judy Collins. Joni was part of the vibrant 1970s music scene, mingling with icons like Tom Petty, Carole King, Eric Clapton, and Mama Cass in places like Lookout Mountain and Los Angeles.
This gathering of musical talent was seen as extraordinary. Johnny Echols from the band Love reflected, “It was a unique time and place that couldn’t be replicated – just pure luck and serendipity.”
Throughout her illustrious career, Joni released 19 studio albums, won nine Grammys, and received 17 nominations. In 1997, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, followed by the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame a decade later.
Joni’s performing has halted due to health issues. Having contracted polio as a child, she recalls being unable to move, as if her spine was twisted terribly, leaving her temporarily paralyzed. “It returned with a vengeance much later,” she noted in 1995.
“It feels similar to multiple sclerosis. With muscles weakening and an electrical system breakdown, paraplegia seems imminent.”
Currently, Joni battles what she terms an “outer space condition,” identified by the Mayo Clinic as Morgellons Disease. This condition results in sores, strange skin sensations, and filament-like fibers protruding from the skin.
“Fibers appear in various colors like mushrooms after a rain, defying classification as animal, vegetable, or mineral,” she shared in a 2010 interview with the Los Angeles Times.
Joni described Morgellons as a slow and unpredictable ailment, likening it to a “terrorist disease” capable of debilitating one’s organs for extended periods. However, having survived polio, she remains determined to live resiliently despite medical skepticism.
In 2015, Joni endured a brain aneurysm, again confining her to a wheelchair, albeit briefly. Remarkably, she began to feel better, even attending the 2022 Grammy Awards in Las Vegas, where she accepted the Best Historical Album award for her compilation, “Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 1: The Early Years (1963–1967).”
Joni’s legacy lives on with a net worth estimated at $100 million. Despite her ongoing health challenges, Joni stands as a beacon of endurance and fortitude, proving time and again that she is, above all, a fighter.
