Q 01/05

What was Joni Mitchell's name at birth?

A) Joan Roberta Mitchell

B) Roberta Joan Anderson

C) Joni Marguerite McKee

D) Roberta Jean Gibb

Answer · why

B) Roberta Joan Anderson

Roberta Joan Anderson became Joni Mitchell in 1965, when she married the folk singer Chuck Mitchell; she kept his surname after the marriage ended two...

Q 02/05

In which Canadian province was Mitchell born?

A) Alberta

B) Manitoba

C) Ontario

D) British Columbia

Answer · why

A) Alberta

Alberta was a wartime posting: her father, an air force flight lieutenant, was teaching new pilots at Fort Macleod when she was born there in 1943.

Q 03/05

Which city does Mitchell consider her hometown, having moved there at age 11?

A) Calgary

B) Edmonton

C) Saskatoon

D) Winnipeg

Answer · why

C) Saskatoon

Saskatoon is where a seventh-grade teacher told her that if she could paint with a brush she could paint with words; she dedicated her first album to ...

Q 04/05

Which illness did Mitchell contract at the age of nine?

A) Rheumatic fever

B) Tuberculosis

C) Scarlet fever

D) Polio

Answer · why

D) Polio

Polio put her in hospital at nine and weakened her left hand, which is why she later devised her own guitar tunings to compensate.

Q 05/05

Which instrument did Mitchell settle for first because her mother thought guitars were 'hillbilly'?

A) Banjo

B) Piano

C) Ukulele

D) Autoharp

Answer · why

C) Ukulele

The ukulele was what she bought when her mother banned the guitar; she played it at parties where friends sang Kingston Trio songs, then taught hersel...