Joni Mitchell will perform at the Grammy Awards for the first time.
Joni Mitchell @ Newport Folk Festival, Billy Joel (Supplied, Credit: Myrna Suarez)
Legendary Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell will perform at the 2024 Grammy Awards next Monday, making her first appearance as a performer for the music awards.
As well as Mitchell’s highly anticipated performance, Billy Joel will also appear as a performer, taking the stage just three days after releasing his first new song in 17 years, Turn The Lights Back On.
The pair will perform at the 2024 Grammy Awards alongside a massive roster of artists, including Olivia Rodrigo, Luke Combs, U2, Burna Boy, Billie Eilish, Travis Scott, Dua Lipa and more.
Mitchell is also up for an award, with Joni Mitchell At Newport (a recording of her performance at the 2022 Newport Folk Festival, her first time on stage in nine years) nominated for Best Live Album. This year’s Grammy Awards air in the US on Sunday, 4 February, while in Australia, viewers can watch via Paramount+ on Monday, 5 February.
If Mitchell wins the Best Live Album award, she’ll win her tenth Grammy Award – not counting her Lifetime Achievement Award, which honoured the Both Sides Now singer in 2002.
Billy Joel has won five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year for 52nd Street and Song of the Year and Record of the Year for Just The Way You Are.
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Joel will release his new single, Turn The Lights Back On, on Thursday, 1 February. He teased the new song on social media last week, with a snippet showing him by the piano, evoking all the emotions inside us with his poignant playing.
It’s been a long time since we’ve heard new music from Billy Joel, with the American artist content with touring off the back of his already impressive catalogue. The last album related to Joel was 2001’s Fantasies & Delusions, which saw British Korean pianist Richard Hyung-ki Joo playing classical tunes on the piano composed by Joel.
The only taste of new music following that release were Joel’s 2007 songs, All My Life and Christmas In Fallujah, with the latter starring Cass Dillon on lead vocals. Joel released his last traditional pop album, River Of Dreams, in 1993.
In 2015, Joni Mitchell had a brain aneurysm and performed for the first time after the harrowing experience at the 2022 Newport Folk Festival – a surprise set.
Since then, she’s performed on a few occasions with singer Brandi Carlile, and in June 2023, she played her first headline show since 2000, headlining the Gorge Amphitheatre in Washington. She was joined by numerous friends, including Annie Lennox, Allison Russell, Marcus Mumford, Brandi Carlile, Sarah McLachlan and more.