When viewers tune in to the 64th Annual Grammy Awards Sunday night, they will see a number of well-known celebrities at the microphone as presenters, including Megan Thee Stallion, Questlove, Dua Lipa, Lenny Kravitz and Jared Leto.
And a surprising one: Joni Mitchell.
It will be a rare public appearance for Mitchell, 78, the respected Canadian singer and composer who was one of the defining figures of the singer-songwriter movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Mitchell has never been one to be in the spotlight, but has maintained a very low public profile since she suffered an aneurysm in 2015 and gradually recovered over the following years.
The past two years have brought Mitchell a wave of recognition. Her 1971 album ‘Blue’, which had little commercial impact on release but long been a connoisseur’s favorite, was celebrated on its 50th anniversary last year. In December, she was awarded a Kennedy Center Honor, and several of her songs, such as “Big Yellow Taxi” and “Both Sides Now,” were performed by Brandi Carlile, Brittany Howard and Norah Jones. In a speech at the White House reception for the event, she spoke about her health, saying, “I’m stumbling, but I’m doing fine.” She even joked in an interview for the camera on the red carpet, “I’m old enough to be honored before.”
In a taped interview last year, before a virtual Grammy gala hosted by music director Clive Davis, she gave an overview of her career, saying that the folk music scene of the mid-1960s was “territorial” about repertoire, and that she learned “the only way to get around this dilemma is to start writing your own songs.” She also told Davis that she had only recently realized the magnitude of her influence; for years, she said, “all I was aware of were bad reviews.”
Mitchell last released an album of new songs in 2007. In January, she asked Spotify to remove her music after Neil Young did the same, in protest against the streaming service for its role in giving a platform to disinformation about the Covid -19 vaccine.
On Friday, Mitchell will also be the honoree at a gala for MusiCares, a Grammy-affiliated charity that helps needy musicians, with Cyndi Lauper, Stephen Stills, Herbie Hancock, Jon Batiste, Sara Bareilles, Beck, Carlile and others performing her music.
