Editing Joni Mitchell (section)

==Early life and education==
Mitchell was born Roberta Joan Anderson on November 7, 1943, in [[Fort Macleod]], Alberta, the daughter of Myrtle Marguerite (née McKee) and William Andrew Anderson.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/edmontonjournal/obituary.aspx?pid=155554751|title=William ANDERSON|work=Edmonton Journal|access-date=November 26, 2014|archive-date=November 29, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129075551/http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/edmontonjournal/obituary.aspx?pid=155554751|url-status=live}}</ref> Her mother's ancestors were [[Scottish people|Scottish]] and Irish;<ref name="irishtimes">{{cite news|url=http://jonimitchell.com/library/print.cfm?id=1894|title=Saint Joni|newspaper=[[The Irish Times]]|first=Aidan|last=Dunne|author-link=Aidan Dunne|page=14|date=July 19, 2008|access-date=November 11, 2013|archive-date=November 11, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131111064131/http://jonimitchell.com/library/print.cfm?id=1894|url-status=live}}</ref> her father was from a [[Norwegian people|Norwegian]] family that may have had some [[Sámi people|Sámi]] ancestry.<ref name="READ">{{cite web|url=http://jonimitchell.com/library/view.cfm?id=1317|title=Heart of a Prairie Girl: Reader's Digest, July 2005|website=Jonimitchell.com|access-date=November 26, 2014|archive-date=May 4, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150504160329/http://jonimitchell.com/library/view.cfm?id=1317|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://nymag.com/thecut/2015/02/joni-mitchell-fashion-muse.html|title=Joni Mitchell, the original folk-goddess muse, in the season seemingly inspired by her|work=[[New York (magazine)|New York]]|date=February 8, 2015|first=Carl|last=Swanson|access-date=February 13, 2015|archive-date=February 12, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150212200929/http://nymag.com/thecut/2015/02/joni-mitchell-fashion-muse.html#K1PCmz:VC4|url-status=live}}</ref> Her mother was a teacher. Her father was a [[Royal Canadian Air Force]] [[flight lieutenant]] who instructed new pilots at [[RCAF Station Fort Macleod]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Mercer|first=Michelle|title=Will You Take Me As I Am: Joni Mitchell's Blue Period|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mvv-Ij2BLgoC&pg=PT213|access-date=August 14, 2015|year=2009|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-1-4165-6655-7|page=213|archive-date=August 3, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803205617/https://books.google.com/books?id=mvv-Ij2BLgoC&pg=PT213|url-status=live}}</ref> During [[World War II]], she moved with her parents to various bases in western Canada. After the war ended, her father worked as a grocer and her family moved to [[Saskatchewan]], living in [[Maidstone, Saskatchewan|Maidstone]] and [[North Battleford]].<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://jonimitchell.com/library/print.cfm?id=49|title=Joni Mitchell – A Portrait of the Artist|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|date=December 9, 1995|first=Timothy|last=White|author-link=Timothy White (writer)|access-date=June 10, 2019|archive-date=October 2, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191002200338/http://jonimitchell.com/library/print.cfm?id=49|url-status=live}}</ref> She later sang about her small-town upbringing in several of her songs, including "[[Hejira (album)#Songs|Song for Sharon]]".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dobrian |first=Joseph |title='Song for Sharon' brings back memories |url=https://www.press-citizen.com/story/opinion/contributors/writers-group/2017/02/07/joni-mitchell-song-sharon-brings-back-memories/97296996/ |access-date=September 11, 2022 |website=Iowa City Press-Citizen |language=en-US}}</ref>

Mitchell contracted [[polio]] at age nine and was hospitalized for weeks. She also started smoking that year, but denies that smoking has affected her voice.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.jonimitchell.com/library/view.cfm?id=1750 | work=The Daily Telegraph | location=London | title=Joni Mitchell: still smoking | first=Neil | last=McCormick | date=October 4, 2007 | access-date=January 10, 2022 | archive-date=January 10, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220110025819/https://www.jonimitchell.com/library/view.cfm?id=1750 | url-status=live }}</ref>

She moved with her family to [[Saskatoon]], which she considers her hometown, at age 11.<ref name="elmstreet">{{cite web|url=https://jonimitchell.com/library/view.cfm?id=1322|title=Joni & Me|date=November 2000|website=Elm Street|first=Anne|last=Bayin|access-date=June 10, 2019|archive-date=July 3, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200703024316/https://jonimitchell.com/library/view.cfm?id=1322|url-status=live}}</ref> Mitchell struggled at school; her main interest was painting. During this time she briefly studied classical piano.<ref name="BRAND">{{cite news|title=The Education of Joni Mitchell|first=Stewart|last=Brand|author-link=Stewart Brand|work=[[Co-Evolution Quarterly]]|date=June 1976|url=http://jonimitchell.com/library/view.cfm?id=8|access-date=January 4, 2012|archive-date=January 18, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118123317/http://jonimitchell.com/library/view.cfm?id=8|url-status=live}}</ref> She focused on her creative talent and considered a singing or dancing career for the first time.<ref name="crowe">{{cite magazine |last=Crowe |first=Cameron |author-link=Cameron Crowe |url=http://www.theuncool.com/journalism/rs296-joni-mitchell/ |title=Joni Mitchell |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=July 26, 1979 |access-date=January 4, 2012 |format=reprint |archive-date=March 26, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120326094945/http://www.theuncool.com/journalism/rs296-joni-mitchell/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://jonimitchell.com/library/view.cfm?id=95|title=Joni Mitchell Makes Mingus Sing|work=[[Down Beat]]|first=Leonard|last=Feather|author-link=Leonard Feather|date=September 6, 1979|access-date=January 4, 2012|archive-date=April 2, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402102348/http://jonimitchell.com/library/view.cfm?id=95|url-status=live}}</ref> One unconventional teacher, [[Arthur Kratzmann]], made an impact on her, stimulating her to write poetry; her first album includes a dedication to him.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://jonimitchell.com/music/album.cfm?id=2 |title=Words and Music |website=JoniMitchell.com |access-date=April 9, 2012 |archive-date=May 6, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120506014510/http://jonimitchell.com/music/album.cfm?id=2 |url-status=live }}</ref> She dropped out of school in grade 12 (resuming her studies later) and hung out downtown with a rowdy set until she decided that she was getting too close to the criminal world.<ref name="crowe" />

Mitchell wanted to play the guitar, but as her mother associated the instrument with country music and disapproved of its [[hillbilly]] associations,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://jonimitchell.com/library/view.cfm?id=1455|title=An interview with Joni Mitchell|work=Broadside|first=Dave|last=Wilson|date=February 14, 1968|access-date=January 4, 2012|archive-date=January 18, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118005134/http://jonimitchell.com/library/view.cfm?id=1455|url-status=live}}</ref> she initially settled for the [[ukulele]]. Eventually she taught herself guitar from a [[Pete Seeger]] songbook.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/joni-mitchell/biography |title=Joni Mitchell Biography |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=March 3, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140301190629/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/joni-mitchell/biography |archive-date=March 1, 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Polio had weakened her left hand, so she devised alternative tunings to compensate; she later used these tunings to create nonstandard approaches to harmony and structure in her songwriting.<ref name="100GreatestGuitarists">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/100-greatest-guitarists-david-frickes-picks-146383/joni-mitchell-5-230153/ |title=The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time |author=David Fricke |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=February 11, 2017 |author-link=David Fricke |archive-date=January 13, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190113003847/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/100-greatest-guitarists-david-frickes-picks-146383/joni-mitchell-5-230153/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Mitchell started singing with her friends at bonfires around [[Waskesiu Lake]], northwest of [[Prince Albert, Saskatchewan]]. She widened her repertoire to include her favourite performers, such as [[Édith Piaf]] and [[Miles Davis]], at age 18. Her first paid performance was on October 31, 1962, at a Saskatoon club that featured folk and jazz performers.<ref name="GIGS"/><ref>{{cite news |last=Silversides |first=Brock |date=February 1, 2018|title='A coffee house for the sponge people' The rise and fall of the Crypt|work=[[It's Psychedelic Baby! Magazine]]|url=http://www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2018/01/a-coffee-house-for-sponge-people-rise.html|url-status=live|access-date=February 6, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180207005041/http://www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2018/01/a-coffee-house-for-sponge-people-rise.html |archive-date=February 7, 2018}}</ref> Although she never performed jazz herself in those days, Mitchell and her friends sought out gigs by jazz musicians. Mitchell said, "My jazz background began with one of the early [[Lambert, Hendricks and Ross]] albums." That album, ''[[The Hottest New Group in Jazz]]'', was hard to find in Canada, she says, "so I saved up and bought it at a bootleg price. I considered that album to be my [[Beatles]]. I learned every song off of it, and I don't think there is another album anywhere—including my own—on which I know every note and word of every song."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://jonimitchell.com/library/print.cfm?id=595|title=Joni Mitchell Has Her Mojo Working|work=[[The Los Angeles Times]]|first=Leonard|last=Feather|author-link=Leonard Feather|date=June 10, 1979|access-date=January 4, 2012|archive-date=August 31, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120831215540/http://jonimitchell.com/library/print.cfm?id=595|url-status=live}}</ref>

After graduating from high school at [[Aden Bowman Collegiate]] in Saskatoon, Mitchell took art classes at the [[Saskatoon Technical Collegiate]] with [[abstract expressionist]] painter [[Henry Bonli]]<ref name="Weller2008">{{cite book|author=Weller, Sheila|title=Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon—And the Journey of a Generation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4n5LMaA2xMsC|access-date=February 11, 2017|date=April 8, 2008|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-0-7434-9147-1|page=73|archive-date=February 17, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170217011652/https://books.google.com/books?id=4n5LMaA2xMsC|url-status=live}}</ref> and left home to attend the [[Alberta College of Art]] in Calgary for the 1963–64 school year. She felt disillusioned about the high priority given to technical skill over free-class creativity there,<ref name="BRAND"/> and felt out of step with the trend toward pure abstraction and the tendency to move into [[commercial art]]. She dropped out of school after a year at age 20, due to an unexpected pregnancy (with her daughter Kilauren). She then started playing music in the nightclubs of Canada.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Strauss |first=Neil |date=October 4, 1998 |title=The Hissing of a Living Legend |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/04/magazine/the-hissing-of-a-living-legend.html |access-date=June 7, 2024 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>