Joni Mitchell waves to the crowd during her 70th birthday tribute concert as part of the Luminato Festival at Massey Hall in Toronto on Tuesday, June 18, 2013. Mitchell will be in the U.S. capital to celebrate her latest lifetime achievement: the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Vincent Elkaim
WASHINGTON – Alberta-born songstress Joni Mitchell will be in the U.S. capital to celebrate her latest lifetime achievement: the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.
Mitchell, 79, is the first Canadian and only the third woman to collect the prestigious accolade since it was established in 2007.
Tonight’s all-star tribute concert includes performances by Annie Lennox, James Taylor, Brandi Carlile and Cyndi Lauper, among others.
It’s just the latest star turn for the resurgent Mitchell, who wowed fans last summer with a surprise set alongside Carlile at the Newport Folk Festival, her first full-length public performance in more than 20 years.
Mitchell, who lives in the musical mecca of Laurel Canyon in Los Angeles, has been gradually recovering from a ruptured brain aneurysm she suffered in 2015.
As a Gershwin prizewinner, she joins a select group of legendary singer-songwriters including Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder and Carole King.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 1, 2023.
