Fans around the world have united to pray for Joni Mitchell following the announcement that the singer/songwriter is in intensive care after being found unconscious in her home on Tuesday.
A statement on Mitchell's official website yesterday revealed the 71 year old was rushed to an L.A. hospital, but regained consciousness on the journey. She is currently undergoing tests and "is awake and in good spirits" the statement said. It encourages fans to "Light a candle and sing a song, let's all send good wishes her way."
Instantly, thousands of well-wishers, including pop icon Boy George, took to Twitter and Facebook to voice their support and pray for Mitchell, using the hashtag #prayingforJonni.
"All my love and strength and prayers your way..#prayingforJoni" wrote one user.
"She's one of my favorite songwriters. I used to study her lyrics like they were textbooks, love her use of metaphors #prayingforJoni" added a Facebook user.
"So very sad...we love you, Joni! Get well soon! #prayingforJoni," wrote another.
The Canadian-born singer, referred to by Rolling Stone magazine as "one of the greatest songwriters ever," became a folk music icon of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Although raised in a Bible-believing home, Mitchell never outrightly professed Christianity and often expressed an agnostic view of the world.
"I have had a difficult life as most people have ... a life of very good luck and very bad luck ... but I don't think I've ever become faithless; I've never been an atheist, although I can't say what orthodoxy I belong to," she once said.
However, much of her music includes religious themes and imagery, most notably "Slouching Towards Bethlehem" and the Crosby, Stills & Nash hit, "Woodstock."
"[As a performer I was] in the position of having so many people look up to [me]..I took this seriously..and decided I needed a guide, and leaned on God. 'Woodstock,' for some reason, impressed me as being a modern-day miracle, like a modern-day fishes and loaves story. So I wrote the song 'Woodstock' out of those feelings," author Mark Bego quotes Mitchell as saying in his book, "Joni Mitchell."
Included in her long list of achievements are eight Grammy Awards, a lifetime achievement award in 2002, and multiple chart-topping hits, including "Big Yellow Taxi", "Both Sides, Now", and "Help Me". In 1997, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Variety reported that Mitchell is a lifelong smoker who was once quoted as saying that "six decades of smoking have robbed me of my voice." She told Billboard magazine in December that she is no longer able to perform due to Morgellons disease, which is widely considered to be a psychological disorder in which sufferers believe they can feel parasites crawling underneath their skin.
Mitchell recently released a career-spanning four-disc box set last year and appeared at Clive Davis' annual pre-Grammy party in February.
