Grammy Awards

Joni Mitchell makes Grammy Awards debut performance at 80 years old

The legendary singer also won her 10th career Grammy on Sunday

Joni Mitchell
Amy Sussman/Getty Images

Joni Mitchell had been on the Grammy Awards stage many times in her career. But only to accept her many awards, never to perform.

Until Sunday, when she did both. The legendary singer and songwriter won her 10th Grammy and made her debut performance at 80 years old.

Mitchell sang her classic song "Both Sides Now" while seated on stage alongside fellow Grammy winner Brandi Carlile.

Mitchell, who at the 2002 Grammys earned a Lifetime Achievement Award, received a standing ovation after the performance. Host Trevor Noah then presented Mitchell with the Grammy Award she won earlier in the night during the untelevised preshow.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee won the Grammy for Best Folk Album with "Joni Mitchel at Newport." The live album from her surprise performance at the 2022 Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island marked her first concert in two decades.

That was also her first performance since suffering a brain aneurysm in 2015 that left her unable to speak or walk, forcing her to relearn how to play music.

"We had so much fun at that concert and I think you can feel it on the record," Mitchell said during her acceptance speech Sunday. "It's a very joyous record because the people that I played with and the spirit of the occasion was very high, and it went onto the record. Even the audience sounds like music."

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