Tori Amos (born
Myra Ellen Amos) was one of several female singer/songwriters who combined
the stark
lyrical attack of alternative rock with a distinctly '70s musical approach. Her
music falls between the orchestrated meditations of
Kate Bush and the stripped-down poetics of
Joni Mitchell. In addition to reviving the singer/songwriter traditions of
the '70s,
Tori Amos revived the piano as a rock & roll instrument. With her 1992 album,
Little Earthquakes,
Tori Amos built a dedicated following that continued to expand with her second
album, Under the Pink.
Born in North Carolina but raised in Maryland,
Tori Amos was the daughter of a Methodist preacher. By the age of four, she was
singing and playing piano in the church choir; she began writing her own songs
shortly afterward.
Tori Amos won a scholarship to Baltimore's Peabody Conservatory based on her
instrumental prowess. While she was studying at Peabody, she became infatuated
with rock & roll, particularly the music of
Led Zeppelin. She began writing pop ballads and performing in local bars.
Tori Amos moved to Los Angeles in her late teens to become a pop singer.
Atlantic Records signed her in 1987, recording an uninspired pop-metal album
called Y Kant Tori Read the following year. The record was a complete failure,
attracting no attention from radio or press and selling very few copies;
nevertheless, she didn't lose her record contract. By 1990,
Tori Amos had adopted a new approach, singing spare, haunting, semiconfessional
piano ballads that were arranged like
Kate Bush but had the melodies and lyrical approach of
Joni Mitchell. Atlantic sponsored a trip to England in 1991, where she
played a series of concerts in support of an EP, Me and a Gun.
The harrowing "Me and a Gun" was an autobiographical song, telling the tale
of
Tori Amos' own experience with rape. It gained positive reviews throughout the
media, and both the EP and the concerts sold well. Little Earthquakes,
Tori Amos' first album as a singer/songwriter, was released in late 1991 and sold
well in both the U.S. and the U.K. In 1992, she released the Crucify EP, which
featured three covers, including
Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and
Led Zeppelin's "Thank You." Delivered in early 1994, Under the Pink, the
full-length follow-up to Little Earthquakes, was a bigger hit, selling over a
million copies and launching the minor hit singles "God" and "Cornflake Girl."
Two years later,
Tori Amos delivered her third album, Boys for Pele, her most ambitious and
difficult record to date. The album debuted at number two and quickly went
platinum.
Tori Amos spent much of 1997 dealing with personal matters, including a
miscarriage and a marriage, and working on her fourth album, From the Choirgirl
Hotel, which was released in the spring of 1998. The two-disc To Venus and Back
followed in 1999 to coincide with a tour with
Alanis Morissette. In 2001,
Tori Amos returned with the covers album Strange Little Girls, which also marked
her last release for Atlantic. The next year, she found a new label home with
Epic and followed with Scarlet's Walk in October. Her eighth studio album, an
autobiographical record titled The Beekeeper, was released in 2005. ~ Stephen
Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
|
