Joni Mitchell Becomes a U.S. Citizen After ‘Journey That Began 62 Years Ago’
Joni Mitchell Becomes a U.S. Citizen After ‘Journey That Began 62 Years Ago’
Rachel DeSantisTue, October 13, 2026 at 10:20 PM UTC
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Joni MitchellCredit: x -
Joni Mitchell became a U.S. citizen 62 years after first traveling from Canada to America
The singer has lived in southern California since the late 1960s and now resides in Santa Barbara
Graham Nash congratulated Mitchell, noting her new citizenship means she can vote
Forget just Blue — it’s all about red, white and blue for Joni Mitchell.
The singer-songwriter, 82, announced on Tuesday, Oct. 13 that she has officially become an American citizen, a milestone six decades in the making.
“A journey that began 62 years ago,” she wrote on social media, sharing a smiling photo of herself holding an American flag.
Mitchell also shared a short video of the moment her name was called, making things official.
The “Both Sides Now” singer was born in Canada, and considers Saskatoon her hometown. She traveled to the U.S. for the first time in 1965 with her former husband Chuck Mitchell, and they lived in Detroit for several years.
After a brief stint in New York City, Mitchell moved to southern California in the late 1960s, where she still lives today.
The star notably spent several formative years at a house in Laurel Canyon she bought in 1968, which became a hub for musicians of the time like then-boyfriend Graham Nash and David Crosby.
Nash, a Brit who became a U.S. citizen in 1978, congratulated Mitchell in the comments of her post, writing, “Congrats, Joan! Just in time to vote! 🙌🏼❤️”
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Though she now lives in Santa Barbara, Mitchell told the Ottawa Observer in 2006 that Los Angeles was her “workplace” and British Columbia, where she also owned property, her “heartbeat.”
The Grammy winner returned to Canada for the first time in “many, many years” in March to accept a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2026 Juno Awards.
Joni Mitchell in Los Angeles in February 2024.Credit: Emma McIntyre/Getty
She was given her prize by Prime Minister Mark Carney, and sang his praises during her acceptance speech.
“We are so fortunate to have him,” she said. “I’m living in the States and you know what’s happening there.”
Mitchell previously rebuked President Donald Trump during a concert at the Hollywood Bowl in 2024, telling the crowd, “F--- Donald Trump. I wish I could vote… I’m a Canadian. I’m one of those lousy immigrants.”
The star released her last album, Shine, in 2007, and has spent the last decade dealing with the effects of a 2015 brain aneurysm, which forced her to relearn how to walk, talk and play guitar.
“Some years ago — 10 or 12 years ago, I forget how long ago — I had an aneurysm, which changed my life, oddly, for the better,” she said at the Juno Awards. “My home’s filled up with the most wonderful nurses. I was on the road with men for years and years and years, now I live with a house full of women, and I have a fantastic therapist [who] goes everywhere with me. So my life has changed for the better out of a catastrophe, like a phoenix who grows a better life.”
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
