Joni Mitchell

When it comes to women's music in the twentieth century, Joni Mitchell stands as the preeminent trailblazer. With musings in almost every genre, Mitchell paved the way for many other popular female singer-songwriters. Like many others, she got her start playing folk music in coffeehouses during the early 1960s. In 1967, Reprise Records released her self-titled acoustic debut. 1969 saw the release of her second album Clouds, followed in 1970 by the successful Ladies of the Canyon, which featured the chart-topping "Big Yellow Taxi." But it was the moody and cathartic Blue (1971) that put her on the map of musical genius: the album even inspired Bob Dylan to write "Tangled Up In Blue." Mitchell dialed up the jazz on Court and Spark (1974), which spawned three major hit singles -- "Free Man in Paris," "Raised on Robbery" and "Help Me." Throughout her career, Joni Mitchell has experimented and taken risks with her music. To this day, she continues to explore new ground and hark back to the old folkie ways that gave her snowball its first push.