Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell, CCis a Canadian singer-songwriter and painter. Mitchell's work is highly respected by critics, and she has deeply influenced fellow musicians in a diverse range of genres. Rolling Stone has called her "one of the greatest songwriters ever", and AllMusic has stated, "When the dust settles, Joni Mitchell may stand as the most important and influential female recording artist of the late 20th century". Her lyrics are noted for their developed poetics, addressing social and environmental ideals...
NationalityCanadian
ProfessionMusician
Date of Birth7 November 1943
CountryCanada
I don't know how to sell out. If I tried to sell out I don't think I could.
You can give me 400,000 hostile people and I won't even break sweat. If you give me 200 adoring people, my mouth will dry out.
I prefer Christmas, which is everybody's holiday. It's just my nature. I don't like to be zeroed in on en masse.
I was anti-intellectual to the nth. Basically I liked to dance and paint, and that was about it.
I didn't think I had much of a following in the south. I thought I was anonymous down there so I kept to the south. I found in certain pockets that I was quite recognizable, and I just hit a wig store.
When I felt that fame, people were nosing me out, well I moved on. I used traveling names. Wigs, if necessary.
People were very protective of me. Overly so. I was in the industry for a long time before I had any idea of what drugs people were doing.
I have lost my credibility as a hit maker because of these side excursions into other branches of music by not being consistent. Consistency seems to be all important.
Musically, I would never run dry. Any time I sit down to an instrument, I could write a song.
I like my freedom. I like to do my own grocery shopping.
Musically, I don't think I'd ever dry up. I trust my musical invention.
I try not to steal from myself, but the modalities create similarities.
I got in before SoHo was SoHo. It was just Little Italy when I was in there. It's still off the touristy track. It's just away from the Saturday action, the crowds and everything. It's too expensive. It's insane. You've got to be a billionaire to live on Manhattan now.
I like to move around. I travel. I've driven across country by myself.