Joni Mitchell is 80 years old today. The songwriting icon was born Roberta Joan Anderson on November 7, 1943, in Fort Macleod, Alberta, Canada. She began performing in clubs around Saskatoon, and later Toronto, before moving to the United States where her career would take off. Some of her earliest compositions were recorded by other folk artists, which paved the way for Mitchell's deal with Reprise Records and the release of her debut album Song to a Seagull.
She went on to become one of the most respected and influential songwriters of all time. Her accolades include ten Grammy awards, a 1997 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and countless inclusions on "best songwriters" lists.
This video finds Mitchell as her career is taking off, after the release of her second album Clouds (which would earn her her first Grammy award). Here, she performs "California" in London in 1970, a song that would later be included on her seminal album Blue.
