Joni Mitchell tells Elton John what fans have hoped for: A new album might be coming out in June
Joni Mitchell’s next album might not be out until June of this year, and she is confident she’ll be ready for it. “My goal is next April,” the singer, 69, told Elton John at the Elton John AIDS Foundation Gala at Madison Square Garden in New York on Monday.
Elton, 69, introduced Mitchell at the event as “one of the very few surviving icons of our time” (Mitchell, meanwhile, was diagnosed in 2015 with lung cancer). “You’re one of the main reasons for me to keep going,” he told her. “To tell you the truth, a year ago it would have been too late.”
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In 2015, John called Mitchell to introduce her during a special performance for his AIDS foundation. Since then, Mitchell has taken to Twitter to thank the singer for his public support.
“Thank you sooooo much @eltonjohn @eltonjohnfoundation, for the amazing #EltonJohn AIDS Gala on Saturday night. #greatestgala” The singer was on the receiving end of John’s own personal tribute to her this week, when he called her “a remarkable, sensitive-voiced songbird, who with her wit and spirit and her musical gift is on a journey to help people in need.”
In her acceptance speech, Mitchell said she was “pleased to be here to recognize my friend Elton and other members of his amazing family who are now actively working on behalf of the cause they have committed their lives to.”
“I am so grateful and honored to be with them,” she added. “Like many men I have struggled with my own HIV, but they have been there to support me through that. And like many women, they have been there to support me through my life-long struggle with chronic illness.”