Folk song legend Joni Mitchell is to receive a lifetime achievement award at the upcoming 2026 Juno Awards.
Sarah McLachlan and roots singer Allison Russell will perform as part of a tribute for the “Both Sides Now” singer at Canada’s music awards. Singer and songwriter Mitchell will be honored as “one of Canada’s most influential and enduring creative voices,” the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences said in a statement on Thursday.
Canadian-born Mitchell has won ten Grammys and five Junos over the course of her career that included becoming a music icon during the 1960s and 1970s alongside Bob Dylan and fellow Canadian Leonard Cohen.
Mitchell performed at the Grammys in Feb. 2024 at the age of 80, but has largely stayed out of the public spotlight since suffering an aneurysm in 2015 that for a time left her unable to speak. Having released 19 studio albums, Mitchell’s classic songs include “Free Man in Paris,” “Help Me,” “River” and “Big Yellow Taxi.”
She returned to live performing for the first time in two decades with a surprise appearance at the 2022 Newport Folk Festival, and in Oct. 2024 did a live set at the Hollywood Bowl for her first show in Los Angeles in nearly three decades.
Mitchell was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1981, and in 1997 entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The 55th edition of the Junos will be presented on March 29 in Hamilton, Ontario and will be hosted by Mae Martin.
Earlier, Justin Bieber and Tate McRae were announced as jointly leading the Juno field in nominations for Canada’s version of the Grammys.
