“My childhood was very difficult. I had every childhood disease and then some, but my parents didn't mollycoddle me. They left me to fight those battles on my own. I guess that was very Canadian, very stoic. But it's good. I had to become a warrior. I had to give up hope and find a substitute for hope that would be far more stable.”

Canadian and American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and painter

Joni Mitchell is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and painter. She emerged from the 1960s folk scene and became known for a body of work shaped by personal lyrics and unusual musical structures. Her songs later widened to include pop, jazz, rock, and other styles. She has won eleven Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. In 2002, Rolling Stone called her one of the greatest songwriters ever, and AllMusic described her as perhaps the most important and influential female recording artist of the late 20th century.