Wonder Woman of the Week: Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell is one of a handful of individual musicians that shaped contemporary rock music. While several bands have become immortal through the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Joni Mitchell was a solo musician whose work defined a generation. The Canadian singer/songwriter's name frequently appears on lists of the greatest songwriters of the 20th Century and entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. The artist began as many other before her had. Mitchell sang in nightclubs in Canada and often performed on the street for pocket change before breaking into the scene with Reprise Records in the United States.

In 1968, Joni Mitchell settled in Southern California and entered the music scene that would shape the decade. In 1971, Mitchell released the album Blue which is often now cited as one of the greatest albums of all time. On Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest records of all time, Blue is the highest work on the list by a female artist. After releasing a twelfth record in 1972, Mitchell switched genres and began producing a jazz sound including the songs "Help Me" and "Free Man in Paris."

As Joni Mitchell developed more as a jazz performer, her voice changed and the artist continued to entrench herself in the genre. As the rock and roll era of Woodstock faded into a new generation of sound, Mitchell further removed herself from the scene by collaborating with rising jazz performers like Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter. Mitchell eventually returned to the scene before retiring in 2007. Throughout her life, Mitchell was a steep critic of the music industry and worked hard to produce her own music. The artist even designed her own album covers.