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IMDbPro

Joni Mitchell(I)

  • Music Artist
  • Composer
  • Actress
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Joni Mitchell in Beverly Hills, California
Trailer for Jaco
Play trailer2:26
Jaco (2015)
3 Videos
25 Photos
Joni Mitchell is one of the most highly regarded and influential songwriters of the 20th century. Her melodious tunes support her poetic and often very personal lyrics to make her one of the most authentic artists of her time. As a performer she is widely hailed for her unique style of playing guitar. Mitchell's unflinching struggle for her own artistic independence has made her a role model for many other musicians, and somewhat of a bane to music industry executives. She is critical of the industry and of the shallowness that she sees in much of today's popular music. Mitchell is also a noted painter and has created the beautiful artwork that appears on the packaging of her music albums.

Joni Mitchell was born Roberta Joan Anderson in Fort Macleod, Alberta, Canada, to Myrtle Marguerite (McKee), a teacher, and William Andrew Anderson, a RCAF flight lieutenant and grocer. Her father was of Norwegian descent, and her mother had Irish and Scottish ancestry. Mitchell first became famous for penning "Both Sides Now", a song that helped launch the career of pop/folk singer Judy Collins. When Mitchell began as a songwriter many of her lyrics displayed a wisdom that was precocious for someone who was in her early twenties. Mitchell was first noticed as a performer in New York City's music scene. Her first album appeared in 1968, which featured her voice and her acoustic guitar with virtually no other accompaniment on most songs.

She became romantically involved with David Crosby and later Graham Nash, both of the majorly successful West Coast rock group Crosy, Stills and Nash. Mitchell literally wrote the theme song for the historic mega-concert Woodstock. Arguably her most popular song from this era may be "Big Yellow Taxi" with its well-known lyrics: "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone, they paved paradise and put up a parking lot".

Mitchell's music was originally considered to be folk, but after her initial success she began to grow in a jazz direction. Her collaboration with saxophonist and band leader Tom Scott produced the album "Court and Spark", one of the most popular and influential albums of all time. As her music style veered increasingly towards jazz, Mitchell sadly observed that her pop/folk fans did not follow her to the new musical place she was going to. The sales of her later albums declined. Nonetheless her work was still followed by many within the music industry.

Mitchell worked closely with jazz great Charles Mingus on his last project. She did several albums with jazz bass player Jaco Pastorius, and several more with her second husband, musician and sound engineer Larry Klein. The most popular songs in her career include Big Yellow Taxi, Both Sides Now, Help Me, River, and A Case of You. Her most popular albums include Court and Spark, Hejira, Turbulent Indigo, and Blue.

Joni Mitchell's influence on other musicians has been so broad that it is difficult to summarize. She has been a notable influence on Prince, Elvis Costello, George Michael, Madonna, Sheryl Crow, Morissey, Marillion, Seal, Beck, Cassandra Wilson, Diana Krall and a great many of other women songwriters that are too numerous to mention. Led Zeppelin's "Going to California" is an homage to Mitchell. Mitchell's songs have been covered by the likes of Bob Dylan, Mandy Moore, Minnie Riperton, Frank Sinatra, the Counting Crows, Linda Ronstadt, Neil Diamond, Tori Amos, the Spin Doctors, Nazareth, the Indigo Girls, and many more.

Mitchell's music made an appearance in the movie Love Actually (2003). In this mostly comedic film, actress Emma Thompson's character is a fan of Joni Mitchell's music. At one point in the movie, Thompson's character discovers that she has been betrayed by her husband for a much younger woman. She puts on a brave face for the kids, but her moment of private, painful revelation is shown on screen accompanied by an audio track that is silent except for an overdub of Joni Mitchell singing "Both Sides Now", not the original upbeat recording from the 1960s when Mitchell was a 23-year-old ingénue, but rather the recent re-recording, a somber sentimental performance by the now husky-voiced middle-aged Mitchell, backed by a lush orchestra -- a performance akin to an older, wiser Frank Sinatra singing the retrospective "It Was A Very Good Year" when he was sixty. This poignant scene is the dramatic pinnacle of the film.

Joni Mitchell remains a role model to artists everywhere. Her paintings are being shown in various galleries and on tours, and she is releasing an album of new music in 2007.
BornNovember 7, 1943
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BornNovember 7, 1943
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Photos25

Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Cass Elliot, David Geffen, and Joni Mitchell in American Masters (1985)
Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond, Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, Dr. John, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Neil Young, and The Band in The Last Waltz (1978)
Joni Mitchell and Neil Young in The Last Waltz (1978)
Neil Diamond, Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, Dr. John, Ronnie Hawkins, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Neil Young, and The Band in The Last Waltz (1978)
Joni Mitchell

Known for

Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant in Two Weeks Notice (2002)
Two Weeks Notice
6.1
  • Soundtrack("Big Yellow Taxi")
  • 2002
Marlee Matlin, Troy Kotsur, Daniel Durant, and Emilia Jones in CODA (2021)
CODA
8.0
  • Soundtrack("Both Sides Now")
  • 2021
Tom Cruise in Vanilla Sky (2001)
Vanilla Sky
6.9
  • Additional Crew(Joni Mitchell's "Edminton" and "The Ice Offering" courtesy of)
  • 2001
Griffin Dunne in After Hours (1985)
After Hours
7.6
  • Soundtrack("Chelsea Morning", "I Don't Know Where I Stand")
  • 1985

Credits

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IMDbPro

Composer

  • Joni Mitchell - River
  • Joni Mitchell: Big Yellow Taxi (Lyric Version)
  • James Blake: A Case of You
  • Joni Mitchell: The Fiddle and the Drum (2007)
    Joni Mitchell: The Fiddle and the Drum
  • Counting Crows Feat. Vanessa Carlton: Big Yellow Taxi
  • Amy Grant: Big Yellow Taxi (1995)
    Amy Grant: Big Yellow Taxi
  • P.M. Dawn: The Way of the Wind (1993)
    P.M. Dawn: The Way of the Wind
  • P.M. Dawn: Looking Through Patient Eyes
  • Paul Young: Both Sides Now
  • Joni Mitchell: Come in from the Cold
  • Joni Mitchell: Passion Play (When All the Slaves Are Free)
  • Joni Mitchell: Nothing Can Be Done
  • Joni Mitchell: Two Grey Rooms
  • Joni Mitchell: Lakota (Live)
  • Joni Mitchell: Dancin' Clown

Actress

  • Joni Mitchell - River
  • Bob Dylan in Rolling Thunder Revue (2019)
    Rolling Thunder Revue
  • Joni Mitchell: Big Yellow Taxi (Lyric Version)
    • (voice)
  • Janet Jackson in Janet Jackson Feat. Q-Tip & Joni Mitchell: Got 'Til It's Gone (1997)
    Janet Jackson Feat. Q-Tip & Joni Mitchell: Got 'Til It's Gone
    • (voice)
  • Joni Mitchell & Seal: How Do You Stop?
  • Joni Mitchell: Come in from the Cold
  • Joni Mitchell: Passion Play (When All the Slaves Are Free)
  • Joni Mitchell: Nothing Can Be Done
  • Joni Mitchell: Night Ride Home
  • Joni Mitchell: Two Grey Rooms
  • David Gilmour in Spirit of the Forest (1989)
    Spirit of the Forest
  • Joni Mitchell: Lakota (Live)
  • Joni Mitchell: Dancin' Clown
  • Joni Mitchell & Peter Gabriel: My Secret Place (1988)
    Joni Mitchell & Peter Gabriel: My Secret Place
  • Joni Mitchell: Shiny Toys

Videos3

Joni Mitchell's The Fiddle And The Drum
Clip 1:01
Joni Mitchell's The Fiddle And The Drum
Jaco
Trailer 2:26
Jaco
The Last Waltz
Trailer 1:33
The Last Waltz

Personal details

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  • Official sites
    • Apple Music
    • Facebook
    • November 7, 1943
    • Fort McLeod, Alberta, Canada
    • Larry KleinNovember 21, 1982 - 1994 (divorced)
  • Other works
    Album: "Travelogue"
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Biographical Movie
    • 2 Print Biographies
    • 7 Interviews
    • 197 Articles
    • 1 Pictorial
    • 6 Magazine Cover Photos

Did you know

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  • Trivia
    1965: She had a daughter, whom she put up for adoption. She met the girl in 1996, and they now have a good relationship.
  • Quotes
    [addressing young people who may romanticize the 1960s] Don't just ape our movement. Don't do hippie poses. Look at us. Admit to yourself that we only took it so far. Build from where we left off.
    • Her wide-ranging, three octave voice

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