Joni Mitchell

Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell, CC (Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell, née Anderson; November 7, 1943), is a Canadian female singer-songwriter, musician and painter. Michelle's singing career began in her hometown, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, a small town in western Canada. In the mid-1960s, Michelle traveled to Toronto, the United States and other places, singing in nightclubs and busking on the streets. She subsequently became associated with the budding folk music scene in New York City in the mid-1960s. Michelle gained fame in the late 1960s and was considered an important part of the Southern California folk rock scene. Throughout the 1970s, she devoted herself to exploring and merging pop music and jazz. Michelle has created many works and has been well received by critics and peers in the music industry. The influential AllMusic stated: "When all is said and done, Joni Mitchell may become the most important and influential female singer of the late 20th century." Michelle is also an accomplished visual artist. She created the images for each of her albums through photography and painting, describing herself in a 2000 interview with Toronto's Globe and Mail as a "painter who got off the rails in some way." An outspoken critic of the music industry, Michelle stopped recording in the past few years and focused mainly on her visual arts. 2007's "Shine" is Michelle's last released album.