Joni Mitchell is “one of the best songwriters ever”. In a world where men were headlining every Rock gig and album, there she was, an equal force in the industry. In 1975, she won an award for ‘Best Female Vocalist’ despite her folk roots. This accomplished artist did not have an easy life. In her childhood, the Canadian singer-songwriter suffered from polio which kept her bedridden.
The trauma of parting ways with her child did give her a sense of direction to pursue her career, but the pain never left her side. She gave some memorable performances and albums in her career. The 1974 album ‘Court And Spark’ peaked at position two for 64 weeks on Billboard. However, her last album was ‘Shine’ in 2007. A few years after why did she stop performing?
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Who Is Joni Mitchell?
The singer had humble beginnings during her early days in music. She was born Roberta Joan “Joni” Mitchell on November 7, 1943, at Fort Macleod, Alberta, Canada. She was inclined to music from an early age. Mitchell dropped off her studies at Alberta College Of Art to pursue her career in music performing at various places. During the 60s, folk music was growing among people and many artists emerged performing the genre.
To pursue her passion for folk music, Joni moved to Toronto. There she worked tirelessly to make the ends meet and played other artists’ music at clubs, parties, and festivals. However, in 1965, she presented her composition titled ‘Day After Day’ at the Mariposa Folk Festival. The same year she left for New York to try her luck. Fortunately, her live gigs garnered the attention of how good a songwriter she is!
The turning point in her life was meeting David Crosby, the superstar musician. He helped produce her first album, took her to tours, and made her the headlining gig at his live shows. After four years of moving to the States, she released her sophomore album ‘Clouds’. She was conferred with a Grammy Award for ‘Best Folk Performance‘ for the album. She had many top-charting albums like ‘For The Roses’ and ‘Blue’. The latter was inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame. In her career span, she has won nine Grammys. After giving hits with her 22 albums, after her 23rd album, the ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ singer stopped performing due to a tragic disease.
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Why Did She Stop Performing?
Unfortunately, for the Grammy-winning artist, a rare disease stopped her mobility completely. It was Morgellons disease. A Pennsylvanian lab technician, Mary Leitao named it in 2002. There is no cure for the disease. On top of it, the Centre for Disease Control reported that the cause of the disease is not environmental or infectious. As per the victims, small fibers grow on the skin. The reason is tiny parasites that cause itching, crawling sensations, fatigue, and mental fog.
In the initial stage of the disease, the singer’s affected mobility stopped her from going to live performances and recordings. She described it in an interview. Mitchell said, “Fibers in a variety of colors protrude out of my skin like mushrooms after a rainstorm: they cannot be forensically identified as animal, vegetable, or mineral.” The disease made her bedridden again with very rare body movement. She used to be sick for almost two weeks.
After battling with the incurable disease, she suffered a brain aneurysm rupture, which again affected her walking ability and speech.
Joni went through intense physical therapy and rehabilitation. The singer is still recovering from the aftermath of both issues. She made appearances at tribute concerts, and created and produced Archival work for which she won a Grammy for ‘Best Historical Recording’. However, she surprised the audience members in July 2022 during Newport Folk Festival, where she mesmerized the attendees with her nostalgic performance hinting at near recovery.
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