Portrait of the Artist
by Timothy White
Billboard, Dec. 9
AT last week's Billboard Music Awards, Peter Gabriel presented the Century Award to an artist who had influenced not only him but a strange crew of performers that included Prince, Madonna, Annie Lennox and Chrissie Hynde.
The recipient of the Century Award was Canadian-born Joni Mitchell, who also is the subject of an unusually lengthy cover story in this week's Billboard. Writer Timothy White bows to the demands of the trade journal, which means that the first half is an exhaustive account of Mitchell's recording career, her label-jumping and tax troubles.
In the second half, White draws out the singer, who is deeply private and seldom speaks of personal issues in interviews. Mitchell, 52, talks about her childhood bout with polio,and of her solitude in the hospital at Christmas: "I said a prayer, some kind of pact, a barter with God for my legs, my singing."
An unmarried art student, Mitchell got pregnant in Calgary at age 20, which "in 1964 was like you killed somebody." The baby girl was given up for adoption, and although Mitchell has never met her she says she has put messages for the child into her songs, "just to let her know I was thinking about her."
It's an eerily intimate glimpse that brings to earth a woman often idealized by fans.
Printed from the official Joni Mitchell website. Permanent link: https://jonimitchell.com/library/view.cfm?id=3532
Copyright protected material on this website is used in accordance with 'Fair Use', for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis, and will be removed at the request of the copyright owner(s). Please read 'Notice and Procedure for Making Claims of Copyright Infringement' at JoniMitchell.com/legal.cfm