Tori Amos[7] (born Myra Ellen Amos; August 22, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. She is a classically trained musician with a mezzo-soprano vocal range.[8] Having already begun composing instrumental pieces on piano, Amos won a full scholarship to the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University at the age of five, the youngest person ever to have been admitted. She had to leave at the age of eleven when her scholarship was discontinued for what Rolling Stone described as "musical insubordination".[9] Amos was the lead singer of the short-lived 1980s pop / rock group Y Kant Tori Read before achieving her breakthrough as a solo artist in the early 1990s. Her songs focus on a broad range of topics, including sexuality, feminism, politics, and religion.
Amos is the third child of Mary Ellen (née Copeland) and Edison McKinley Amos.[12] She was born on August 22, 1963[13] at the Old Catawba Hospital in Newton, North Carolina, during a trip from their Georgetown home in Washington, D.C.,[14] and was named Myra Ellen Amos.[7]
Some of Amos's ancestors were Confederate soldiers.[14] In her memoir, Piece by Piece, she talks about the experience of these Confederate ancestors, Margaret Little and Grandaddy Calvin Rice, during the American Civil War, and says that they had become "all worked up" by "the preacher", and that like other farmers were scared of "losin' everythin' to them greedy Yankees". Amos wrote that she believed her great-grandmother "was just defending her home at a certain point".[15]
When she was two years old, her family relocated to Baltimore, Maryland, where her father had moved his Methodist ministry from its original base in Washington, D.C. Her older brother and sister took piano lessons, but Tori did not need them. From the time she could reach the piano, she taught herself[16] to play: when she was two, she could reproduce pieces of music she had only heard once,[17] and, by the age of three, she was composing her own songs. She has described seeing music as structures of light since early childhood, an experience consistent with chromesthesia:
The song appears as light filament once I've cracked it. As long as I've been doing this, which is more than thirty-five years, I've never seen the same light creature in my life. Obviously similar chord progressions follow similar light patterns, but try to imagine the best kaleidoscope ever—after the initial excitement, you start to focus on each element's stunning original detail. For instance, the sound of the words with the sound of the chord progression combined with the rhythm manifests itself in a unique expression of the architecture of color-and-light. ... I started visiting this world when I was three, listening to a piece by Béla Bartók; I visited a configuration that day that wasn't on this earth. ... It was euphoric.[18]
At five, she became the youngest student ever admitted to the preparatory division of the Peabody Institute.[19][20] She studied classical piano at Peabody from 1968 to 1974.[19] In 1974, when she was eleven, her scholarship was discontinued, and she was asked to leave. Amos has asserted that she lost the scholarship because of her interest in rock and popular music, coupled with her dislike for reading from sheet music.[21][17][22]
In 1972, the Amos family moved to Silver Spring, Maryland, where her father became pastor of the Good Shepherd United Methodist church. At thirteen, Amos began playing at gay bars and piano bars, chaperoned by her father.[21][17][23]
Amos won a county teen talent contest in 1977, singing a song called "More Than Just a Friend".[20] As a senior at Richard Montgomery High School, she co-wrote "Baltimore" with her brother, Mike Amos, for a competition involving the Baltimore Orioles. The song did not win the contest but became her first single, released as a 7-inch single pressed locally for family and friends in 1980 with another Amos-penned composition as a B-side, "Walking With You". Before this, she had performed under her middle name, Ellen, and was considering the stage name "Sammy Jaye[24]" at the time, but permanently adopted "Tori" after a friend's boyfriend told her she looked like a Torrey pine, a tree native to the West Coast.[25][26][27]
Career
1979–1989: Career beginnings and Y Kant Tori Read
By the time she was 17, Amos had a stock of homemade demo tapes that her father regularly sent out to record companies and producers.[20] Producer Narada Michael Walden responded favorably: he and Amos cut some tracks together, but none were released.[20] Eventually, Atlantic Records responded to one of the tapes, and, when A&R man Jason Flom flew to Baltimore to audition her in person, the label was convinced and signed her.[19]
In 1984, Amos moved to Los Angeles to pursue her music career[20] after several years performing on the piano bar circuit in the Washington, D.C. area.
In 1986, Amos formed a musical group called Y Kant Tori Read, named for her difficulty with sight-reading.[28] In addition to Amos, the group was composed of Steve Caton (who would later play guitars on all of her albums until 1999), drummer Matt Sorum, bass player Brad Cobb and, for a short time, keyboardist Jim Tauber. The band went through several iterations of songwriting and recording; Amos has said interference from record executives caused the band to lose its musical edge and direction during this time. Finally, in July 1988, the band's eponymous debut album, Y Kant Tori Read, was released. Although its producer, Joe Chiccarelli, stated that Amos was very happy with the album at the time,[29] Amos has since criticized it, once remarking: "The only good thing about that album is my ankle high boots."[30]
Following the album's commercial failure and the group's subsequent disbanding, Amos began working with other artists (including Stan Ridgway, Sandra Bernhard, and Al Stewart) as a backup vocalist. She also recorded a song called "Distant Storm" (which she did not write), which was used in the film China O'Brien. In the credits, the song is attributed to a band called Tess Makes Good.[31] Amos recorded the vocals for the song in 1988, for $150; she was unaware for several years that the song had actually been heard in a film.[32] Other than the appearance in the film itself, "Distant Storm" has never been commercially issued in any format.
1990–1995: Little Earthquakes and Under the Pink
Amos in 1993 Alexandra Palace, London
Despite the disappointing reaction to Y Kant Tori Read, Amos still had to comply with her six-record contract with Atlantic Records, which, in 1989, wanted a new record by March 1990. The initial recordings were declined by the label, which Amos felt was because the album had not been properly presented.[33] The album was reworked and expanded under the guidance of Doug Morris and the musical talents of Steve Caton, Eric Rosse, Will MacGregor, Carlo Nuccio, and Dan Nebenzal, resulting in Little Earthquakes, an album recounting her religious upbringing, sexual awakening, struggle to establish her identity, and sexual assault.[19] This album became her commercial and artistic breakthrough, entering the British charts in January 1992 at Number 15.[19]Little Earthquakes was released in the United States in February 1992 and slowly but steadily began to attract listeners, gaining more attention with the video for the single "Silent All These Years".[19]
Amos traveled to New Mexico with personal and professional partner Eric Rosse in 1993 to write and largely record her second solo record, Under the Pink. The album was received with mostly favorable reviews and sold enough copies to chart at No. 12 on the Billboard 200,[34] a significantly higher position than the preceding album's position at No. 54 on the same chart.[35] However, the album found its biggest success in the UK, debuting at number one upon release in February 1994.
1996–2000: Boys for Pele, From the Choirgirl Hotel, and To Venus and Back
Amos in 1996
Her third solo album, Boys for Pele, was released in January 1996. Prior to its release, the first single, "Caught a Lite Sneeze" became the first full song released for streaming online prior to an album's release.[36][37]
The album was recorded in a church in Delgany, County Wicklow, Ireland, with Amos taking advantage of the church's acoustics. For this album, Amos used the harpsichord, harmonium, and clavichord as well as the piano. The album garnered mixed reviews upon its release, with some critics praising its intensity and uniqueness while others bemoaned its comparative impenetrability. Despite the album's erratic lyrical content and instrumentation, the latter of which kept it away from mainstream audiences, Boys for Pele is Amos' most successful simultaneous transatlantic release, reaching No. 2 on the UK Top 40[38] and No. 2 on the Billboard 200 upon its release.[34]
Fueled by the desire to have her own recording studio to distance herself from record company executives, Amos had the barn of her home in Cornwall, UK converted into the state-of-the-art recording studio of Martian Engineering Studios.[39]
From the Choirgirl Hotel and To Venus and Back, released in May 1998 and September 1999, respectively, differ greatly from previous albums. Amos' trademark acoustic, piano-based sound is largely replaced with arrangements that include elements of electronica and dance music with vocal washes. The underlying themes of both albums deal with womanhood and Amos' own miscarriages and marriage. Reviews for From the Choirgirl Hotel were mostly favorable and praised Amos' continued artistic originality. Debut sales for From the Choirgirl Hotel are Amos' best to date, selling 153,000 copies in its first week.[40]To Venus and Back, a two-disc release of original studio material and live material recorded from the previous world tour, received mostly positive reviews and included the first major-label single available for sale as a digital download.[41]
2001–2004: Strange Little Girls and Scarlet's Walk
Shortly after giving birth to her daughter, Amos decided to record a cover album, taking songs written by men about women and reversing the gender roles to reflect a woman's perspective.[42][43] That became Strange Little Girls, released in September 2001. The album is Amos' first concept album, with artwork featuring Amos photographed in character of the women portrayed in each song.[43] Amos would later reveal that a stimulus for the album was to end her contract with Atlantic without giving them original songs; Amos felt that since 1998, the label had not been properly promoting her and had trapped her in a contract by refusing to sell her to another label.[44]
With her Atlantic contract fulfilled after a 15-year stint, Amos signed to Epic in late 2001. In October 2002, Amos released Scarlet's Walk, another concept album. Described as a "sonic novel", the album explores Amos' alter ego, Scarlet, intertwined with her cross-country concert tour following 9/11. Through the songs, Amos explores such topics as the history of America, American people, Native American history, pornography, masochism, homophobia and misogyny. The album had a strong debut at No. 7 on the Billboard 200.[34][45]Scarlet's Walk is Amos' last album to date to reach certified gold status from the RIAA.[46]
Not long after Amos was ensconced with her new label, she received unsettling news when Polly Anthony resigned as president of Epic Records in 2003. Anthony had been one of the primary reasons Amos signed with the label and as a result of her resignation, Amos formed the Bridge Entertainment Group. Further trouble for Amos occurred the following year when her label, Epic/Sony Music Entertainment, merged with BMG Entertainment as a result of the industry's decline.[47]
2005–2008: The Beekeeper and American Doll Posse
Amos in concert in October 2007
Amos released two more albums with Epic, The Beekeeper (2005) and American Doll Posse (2007). Both albums received generally favorable reviews.[48][49]The Beekeeper was conceptually influenced by the ancient art of beekeeping, which she considered a source of female inspiration and empowerment. Through extensive study, Amos also wove in the stories of the Gnosticgospels and the removal of women from a position of power within the Christian church to create an album based largely on religion and politics. The album debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200,[34][50] placing her in an elite group of women who have secured five or more US Top 10 album debuts.[51] While the newly merged label was present throughout the production process of The Beekeeper, Amos and her crew nearly completed her next project, American Doll Posse, before inviting the label to listen to it. American Doll Posse, another concept album, is fashioned around a group of girls (the "posse") who are used as a theme of alter-egos of Amos'. Musically and stylistically, the album saw Amos return to a more confrontational nature.[52] Like its predecessor, American Doll Posse debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200.[34]
During her tenure with Epic Records, Amos also released a retrospective collection titled Tales of a Librarian (2003) through her former label, Atlantic Records; a two-disc DVD set Fade to Red (2006) containing most of Amos' solo music videos, released through the Warner Bros. reissue imprint Rhino; a five disc box set titled A Piano: The Collection (2006), celebrating Amos' 15-year solo career through remastered album tracks, remixes, alternate mixes, demos, and a string of unreleased songs from album recording sessions, also released through Rhino; and numerous official bootlegs from two world tours, The Original Bootlegs (2005) and Legs & Boots (2007) through Epic Records.
2008–2011: Abnormally Attracted to Sin and Midwinter Graces
Amos in 2010
In May 2008, Amos announced that, due to creative and financial disagreements with Epic Records, she had negotiated an end to her contract with the record label, and would be operating independently of major record labels on future work.[53][54] In September of the same year, Amos released a live album and DVD, Live at Montreux 1991/1992, through Eagle Rock Entertainment, of two performances she gave at the Montreux Jazz Festival very early on in her career while promoting her debut solo album, Little Earthquakes. By December, after a chance encounter with chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group, Doug Morris, Amos signed a "joint venture" deal with Universal Republic Records.[55][56][57][58]
Abnormally Attracted to Sin, Amos' tenth solo studio album and her first album released through Universal Republic, was released in May 2009 to mostly positive reviews. The album debuted in the top 10 of the Billboard 200,[59] making it Amos' seventh album to do so.[60]Abnormally Attracted to Sin, admitted Amos, is a "personal album", not a conceptual one, with the album exploring themes of power, boundaries, and the subjective view of sin.[61] Continuing her distribution deal with Universal Republic, Amos released Midwinter Graces, her first seasonal album, in November of the same year. The album features reworked versions of traditional carols, as well as original songs written by Amos.[62]
During her contract with the label, Amos recorded vocals for two songs for David Byrne's collaboration album with Fatboy Slim, titled Here Lies Love,[63] which was released in April 2010. In July of the same year, the DVD Tori Amos- Live from the Artists Den was released exclusively through Barnes & Noble.
After a brief tour from June to September 2010, Amos released a live album From Russia With Love in December the same year, recorded in Moscow on September 3, 2010. The limited edition set included a signature edition Lomography Diana F+ camera, along with two lenses, a roll of film and one of five photographs taken of Amos during her time in Moscow. The set was released exclusively through her website and only 2000 copies were produced.[64][65]
2011–2015: Night of Hunters, Gold Dust, and Unrepentant Geraldines
To mark the 20th anniversary of her debut album, Little Earthquakes (1992), Amos released an album of songs from her back catalogue re-worked and re-recorded with the Metropole Orchestra. The album, titled Gold Dust, was released in October 2012 through Deutsche Grammophon.[66]
On May 1, 2012, Amos announced the formation of her own record label, Transmission Galactic, which she said she intended to use to develop new artists.
In 2013, Amos collaborated with the Bullitts on the track "Wait Until Tomorrow" from their debut album, They Die by Dawn & Other Short Stories. She also stated in an interview that a new album and tour would materialize in 2014 and that it would be a "return to contemporary music".[67]
According to a press release, Unrepentant Geraldines was a "return to her core identity as a creator of contemporary songs of exquisite beauty following a series of more classically-inspired and innovative musical projects of the last four years. [It is] both one further step in the artistic evolution of one of the most successful and influential artists of her generation, and a return to the inspiring and personal music that Amos is known for all around the world."[69]
The 2-CD set The Light Princess (Original Cast Recording) was released on October 9, 2015, via Universal/Mercury Classics. Apart from the original cast performances, the recording also includes two songs from the musical ("Highness in the Sky" and "Darkest Hour') performed by Amos.[70]
2016–present: Native Invader, Christmastide and Ocean to Ocean
Amos on stage in 2017
On November 18, 2016, Amos released a deluxe version of the album Boys for Pele to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the original release.[71] This follows the deluxe re-releases of her first two albums in 2015.
On September 8, 2017, Amos released Native Invader, accompanied by a world tour.[72] During the summer of 2017, Amos launched three songs from the album: "Cloud Riders", "Up the Creek", and "Reindeer King", the latter featuring string arrangements by John Philip Shenale. Produced by Amos, the album explores topics like American politics and environmental issues, mixed with mythological elements and first-person narrations. Native Invader obtained a score of 76 out of 100 on the review aggregator website Metacritic, based on 17 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[73]
On November 9, 2020, Amos announced the release of a holiday-themed EP entitled Christmastide on December 4, digitally and on limited-edition vinyl. The EP consists of four original songs and features her first work with bandmates Matt Chamberlain and Jon Evans since 2009. Amos recorded the EP remotely due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.[74]
On September 20, 2021, Amos announced her sixteenth studio album, Ocean to Ocean, which was released on October 29. The album was written and recorded in Cornwall during lockdown as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and explores "a universal story of going to rock bottom and renewing yourself all over again".[75] Amos embarked on a European and United States tour in support of the album in 2022, and continued to support the album in 2023 with a European Tour in March and April and additional US dates in June and July .[76][77] Matt Chamberlain and Jon Evans were featured on drums and bass guitar respectively, their first collaboration with Amos on an album since 2009's Midwinter Graces.[78] For the 2022 and 2023 tour, Amos was joined by Jon Evans and the drummer Ash Soan.[79]
She appeared at the EPIX original docuseries Women Who Rock which premiered on July 10, 2022.[80][81]
On November 1, 2024, Amos announced the release of a live album, Diving Deep Live, on December 6, 2024. The album will consist of recordings from her 2022-23 tour in support of Ocean to Ocean and be released on double vinyl and CD respectively.[84]
In print
Amos and her music have been the subject of numerous official and unofficial books, as well as academic critique, including Tori Amos: Lyrics (2001) illustrated by Herb Leonhard, and an earlier biography, Tori Amos: All These Years (1996) by Kalen Rogers.[85][86][87]
Released in conjunction with The Beekeeper, Amos co-authored an autobiography with rock music journalist Ann Powers titled Piece by Piece (2005). The book's subject is Amos' interest in mythology and religion, exploring her songwriting process, rise to fame, and her relationship with Atlantic Records.[88][89]
Image Comics released Comic Book Tattoo (2008),[90] a collection of comic stories, each based on or inspired by songs recorded by Amos. Editor Rantz Hoseley worked with Amos to gather 80 different artists for the book, including Neil Gaiman, Carla Speed McNeil, Mark Buckingham, C.B. Cebulski, Nikki Cook, Hope Larson, John Ney Reiber, Ryan Kelly, Pia Guerra, David Mack, and Leah Moore.[91]
Tori Amos: In the Studio (2011) by Jake Brown features an in-depth look at Amos' career, discography, and recording process.[92]Sing Us a Song, Piano Woman: Female Fans and the Music of Tori Amos (2013) by Adrienne Trier-Bieniek explores the ways women are represented in pop culture and the many-layered relationships female fans build with feminist musicians in general and with Tori Amos in particular.[93]
Tori Amos' Boys for Pele (2018) by Amy Gentry uses a blend of memoir, criticism, and aesthetic theory in order to argue that the aesthetics of disgust are useful of thinking in a broader way about women's experience of all art forms.[94] Amos released her second memoir, called Resistance: A Songwriter's Story of Hope, Change, and Courage on May 5, 2020.[95][96]
Tori Amos: Little Earthquakes (2022) by Tori Amos and Neil Gaiman is an official graphic novel celebrating 30 years of Tori Amos' breakout album Little Earthquakes.[97]
Written by Amos and illustrated by Demelsa Haughton, the children's book Tori and the Muses will be released on March 4, 2025.[98]
Personal life
Amos married English sound engineer Mark Hawley on February 22, 1998.[20] They have one daughter, Natashya Lórien Hawley, born September 5, 2000. They live in Bude, UK.
Amos's mother, Mary Ellen, died on May 11, 2019.[99]
Early in her professional career, Amos befriended author Neil Gaiman, who became a fan after she referred to him in the song "Tear in Your Hand" and also in print interviews.[100][101] Although created before the two met, the character Delirium from Gaiman's The Sandman series is inspired by Amos; Gaiman has stated that they "steal shamelessly from each other".[102] She wrote the foreword to his collection Death: The High Cost of Living; he in turn wrote the introduction to Comic Book Tattoo. Gaiman is godfather to her daughter, and a poem written for her birth, "Blueberry Girl", was published as a children's book of the same name in 2009.[103] In 2019, Amos performed the British standard "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square"[104] over the closing credits of season one of Gaiman's TV series Good Omens, based on the novel of the same name written by Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.
Activism
In June 1994, the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), a toll-free help line in the US connecting callers with their local rape crisis center, was founded. Amos stated in a 1994 interview that she was raped at knife point when she was 22 and did not report the incident to the authorities.[105] She answered the ceremonial first call to launch the hotline.[106] She was the first national spokesperson for the organization and has continued to be closely associated with RAINN.[107] On August 18, 2013, a concert in honor of her 50th birthday was held, an event which raised money for RAINN.[108] On August 22, 2020, Amos appeared on a panel called Artistry & Activism at the diversity and inclusion digital global conference CARLA.[109][110]
Relationship with Cherokee culture
Amos has frequently referred to Native American culture, history, and spirituality in her music and visual art, as well as making personal connections with the culture. She has spoken about ancestors on her mother's side she said were of Cherokee descent.[111]
Of particular importance to her as a child was her maternal grandfather, Calvin Clinton Copeland, whom she has cited as a great source of inspiration and guidance, offering a pantheistic spiritual alternative to her father and paternal grandmother's traditional Christianity.[112] She has said her great-grandmother evaded the Trail of Tears by taking refuge in the Great Smoky Mountains, her family's place of residence.[14][113] Amos took a trip through the Smokies which formed the creative basis for her album Native Invader.[114] While talking to The Guardian about taking Ayahuasca and attending sweatlodge ceremonies with her sister, Amos has also said, "I'm not in a position to speak for First Nation people – that's a sacred task."[114]
Amos, who has been performing in bars and clubs from as early as 1976 and under her professional name as early as 1991, has performed more than 1,000 shows[when?] since her first world tour in 1992. In 2003, Amos was voted fifth best touring act by the readers of Rolling Stone magazine. Her concerts are notable for their changing set lists from night to night.[citation needed]
Little Earthquakes Tour
Amos' first world tour began on January 29, 1992, in London and ended on November 30, 1992, in Auckland. She performed solo with a Yamaha CP-70 unless the venue was able to provide a piano.[121][122] The tour included 142 concerts around the globe.
Under the Pink Tour
Amos' second world tour began on February 24, 1994, in Newcastle upon Tyne and ended on December 13, 1994, in Perth, Western Australia. Amos performed solo each night on her iconic Bösendorfer[citation needed] piano, and on a prepared piano during "Bells for Her". The tour included 181 concerts.
Dew Drop Inn Tour
The third world tour began on February 23, 1996, in Ipswich, England, and ended on November 11, 1996, in Boulder. Amos performed each night on piano, harpsichord, and harmonium, with Steve Caton on guitar on some songs. The tour included 187 concerts.
Plugged '98 Tour
Amos' first band tour. Amos, on piano and Kurzweil keyboard, was joined by Steve Caton on guitar, Matt Chamberlain on drums, and Jon Evans on bass. The tour began on April 18, 1998, in Fort Lauderdale and ended on December 3, 1998, in East Lansing, Michigan, including 137 concerts. Highlights from the tour were included on the live disc of To Venus and Back.
Amos' fifth tour was North America–only. The first part of the tour was co-headlining with Alanis Morissette and featured the same band and equipment line-up as in 1998. Amos and the band continued for eight shows before Amos embarked on a series of solo shows. The tour began on August 18, 1999, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and ended on December 9, 1999, in Denver, including 46 concerts.
Strange Little Tour
This tour was Amos' first since becoming a mother in 2000 and her first tour fully solo since 1994 (Steve Caton was present on some songs in 1996). It saw Amos perform on piano, Rhodes piano, and Wurlitzer electric piano, and though the tour was in support of her covers album, the set lists were not strictly covers-oriented. Having brought her one-year-old daughter on the road with her, this tour was also one of Amos' shortest ventures, lasting just three months. It began on August 30, 2001, in London and ended on December 17, 2001, in Milan, including 55 concerts.
On Scarlet's Walk / Lottapianos Tour
Amos' seventh tour saw her reunited with Matt Chamberlain and Jon Evans, but not Steve Caton. The first part of the tour, which featured Amos on piano, Kurzweil, Rhodes, and Wurlitzer, was six months long and Amos went out again in the summer of 2003 for a tour with Ben Folds opening. The tour began on November 7, 2002, in Tampa and ended on September 4, 2003, in West Palm Beach, featuring 124 concerts. The final show of the tour was filmed and released as part of a DVD/CD set titled Welcome to Sunny Florida (the set also included a studio EP titled Scarlet's Hidden Treasures, an extension of the Scarlet's Walk album).
This was Amos' first tour with a full band since her 1999 Five and a Half Weeks Tour, accompanied by long-time bandmates Jon Evans and Matt Chamberlain, with guitarist Dan Phelps rounding out Amos' new band.[123] Amos' equipment included her piano, a Hammond B-3 organ, and two Yamaha S90 ES keyboards. The tour kicked off with its European leg in Rome, Italy, on May 28, 2007, which lasted through July, concluding in Israel; the Australian leg took place during September; the North American leg lasted from October to December 16, 2007, when the tour concluded in Los Angeles. Amos opened each show dressed as one of the four non-Tori personae from the album, then Amos would emerge as herself to perform for the remaining two-thirds of the show. The entire concert tour featured 93 concerts, and 27 full-length concerts of the North American tour were released as official bootlegs in the Legs and Boots series.
Sinful Attraction Tour
For her tenth tour, Amos returned to the trio format of her 2002 and 2003 tours with bassist Jon Evans and drummer Matt Chamberlain while expanding her lineup of keyboards by adding three M-Audio MIDI controllers to her ensemble of her piano, a Hammond B-3 organ, and a Yamaha S90 ES keyboard. The North American and European band tour began on July 10, 2009, in Seattle, Washington, and ended in Warsaw on October 10, 2009. A solo leg through Australia began in Melbourne on November 12, 2009, and ended in Brisbane on November 24, 2009. The entire tour featured 63 concerts. This tour was the last tour to feature Matt Chamberlain on drums to date, as well as the last tour to feature Jon Evans on bass until the Ocean to Ocean Tour in 2022.
Amos' eleventh tour was her first with a string quartet, Apollon Musagète, (Amos' equipment includes her piano and a Yamaha S90 ES keyboard) and her first time touring in South Africa. It kicked off on September 28, 2011, in Helsinki Ice Hall, Finland, and ended on December 22, 2011, in Dallas, Texas.[124]
Amos began her 2014 world tour on May 5, 2014, in Cork, Ireland, and concluded it in Brisbane, Australia, on November 21, after playing 73 concerts.[125]
Amos' 2017 tour in support of the Native Invader album kicked off on September 6, 2017, with a series of European shows in Cork, Ireland, moving on to North America in October.
Ocean to Ocean Tour
Amos embarked on tour in 2022 in support of the Ocean to Ocean album, with the bassist John Evans and the drummer Ash Soan. The tour was originally set to begin in Berlin, Germany, but all mainland Europe dates were subsequently postponed due to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The tour began in the United Kingdom with dates in London, Glasgow and Manchester before moving on to Ireland with dates in Dublin and Cork. The North American tour began in April 2022 in Dallas, Texas, and concluded in June in Los Angeles, California. The 2023 European tour began in Edinburgh, UK, in March 2023. A second American leg followed short after until the end of July. In total, the tour featured 94 shows and is chronicled on Diving Deep Live.
On May 21, 2020, Amos was invited to and gave special remarks at her alma mater Johns Hopkins University's 2020 Commencement ceremony.[151] Other notable guest speakers during the virtual ceremony included Reddit co-founder and commencement speaker Alexis Ohanian; philanthropist and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg; Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a leading member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force; and senior class president Pavan Patel.[152]
Film appearances
Amos appears as a wedding singer in the film Mona Lisa Smile.[153] She had previously auditioned for a role as a member of Beverly's band, Cherry Bomb, in the 1986 film Howard the Duck.[154]
Amos performed a cover of R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion", as well as the original song "Butterfly", for the soundtrack of John Singleton's 1995 film Higher Learning. Her song "Talula" was featured in the epic disaster film Twister (1996). "Professional Widow" was featured in the action film Escape from L.A. (1996). "Siren" was featured in the romantic drama Great Expectations (1998). The songs "'Murder' He Says" and "You Belong To Me" were featured in the films Mona Lisa Smile (2003). "Flicker" was featured in the film Audrie & Daisy (2016).
Numerous songs of hers have been included in television series soundtracks.[155] Some examples include:
"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" in crime procedures comedy-drama television series Bones (season 1, episode 9, 2005) and in science fiction television series Roswell (season 3, episode 9, 1999)
"Precious Things" in comedy-drama television series Hindsight (season 1, episode 6, 2015)
"Pretty Good Year" in television series Casual (season 3, episode 12, 2015)
"A Nightingale Song in Berkeley Square" in fantasy comedy television series Good Omens (season 1, episode 6, 2019)
"Professional Widow (Armand's Star Trunk Funkin' Mix)" in Netflix drama thriller series White Lines (season 1, episode 9, 2020), in Derry Girls (season 3, episode 4, "The Haunting", 2018) and Love Island (season 5, episode 14, 2015)
"Crucify" in anthology comedy-drama television series High Maintenance (season 4, episode 8, 2016)
"Raspberry Swirl" in the television series The End (season 1, episode 9, 2020)
"Cornflake Girl" in Conversations with Friends (season 1, episode 10, 2022), in drama television series YellowJackets (season 2, episode 1, 2023)[156][157] and in comedy drama series Beef (season 1, episode 2, 2023)[158]
"Me and a Gun" is a song by American singer-songwriter and musician Tori Amos. It was released as the first single from her debut studio album Little Earthquakes and is her debut single under the name Tori Amos. It was released on October 21, 1991 by Atlantic Records in North America and EastWest Records in the UK.
From the Choirgirl Hotel is the fourth studio album by American musician Tori Amos. It was released on May 5, 1998, on Atlantic Records. The album was Amos's first to be recorded at her own Martian Engineering Studios in Cornwall, England and was self produced, with the mixing being handled by longtime collaborators Marcel van Limbeek and Mark Hawley, whom she had married in early 1998.
Strange Little Girls is a concept album released by singer-songwriter Tori Amos in 2001. The album's 12 tracks are covers of songs written and originally performed by men, reinterpreted by Amos from a female point of view. Amos created female personae for each track and was photographed as each, with makeup done by Kevyn Aucoin. In the United States the album was issued with four alternative covers depicting Amos as the characters singing "Happiness Is a Warm Gun", "Strange Little Girl", "Time", and "Raining Blood". A fifth cover of the "I Don't Like Mondays" character was also issued in the UK and other territories. Text accompanying the photos and songs was written by author Neil Gaiman. The complete short stories in which this text appears can be found in Gaiman's 2006 collection Fragile Things.
Scarlet's Walk is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter and pianist Tori Amos. It was released on October 28, 2002 in the UK and October 29 in the US on Epic Records, making it her first release on the label after her split with Atlantic Records. Her first studio album of original material since To Venus and Back in 1999, the 18-track concept album details the cross-country travels of Scarlet, a character loosely based on Amos, and was greatly inspired by the changes in American society and politics post-September 11, 2001. Topics explored on the album include nationalism, personal relationships, and the death of a close friend. Amos also took inspiration from the stories of her grandfather, who she claims was Cherokee and told her of the abuses against Native Americans throughout the United States' history.
Under the Pink is the second studio album by singer-songwriter Tori Amos. Upon its release in January 1994, the album debuted atop the UK Albums Chart on the back of the hit single "Cornflake Girl", and peaked at number 12 in the US.
The Beekeeper is the eighth studio album by American musician Tori Amos. It was released on February 20, 2005, through Epic Records and is her second release for the label. As with many of Amos' releases throughout the 2000s, The Beekeeper is a concept album, heavily inspired by the practice of beekeeping and its connection to femininity and female empowerment. The album's nineteen tracks are separated into six different "gardens", and are inspired by topics such as her experiences with motherhood, betrayal ("Witness"), and Christian mythology.
"Silent All These Years" is a song by American singer-songwriter and musician Tori Amos, released as the second single from her debut studio album, Little Earthquakes (1992). It was originally released in the United Kingdom in November 1991 via EastWest Records. It was released in North America in 1992 by Atlantic Records and was later used to promote awareness of the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN). In the UK, the single was re-released on August 10, 1992.
Tori Amos is an American pianist and singer-songwriter whose musical career began in 1980, at the age of seventeen, when she and her brother co-wrote the song "Baltimore". The song was selected as the winning song in a contest for the Baltimore Orioles and was recorded and pressed locally as a 7" single. From 1984 to 1989, Amos fronted the synth-pop band Y Kant Tori Read, which released one self-titled album with Atlantic Records in 1988 before breaking up. Shortly thereafter, Amos began writing and recording material that would serve as the debut of her solo career. Still signed with Atlantic, and its UK counterpart East West, Amos' initial solo material was rejected by the label in 1990. Under the guidance of co-producers Eric Rosse, Davitt Sigerson and Ian Stanley, a second version of the album was created and accepted by the label the following year.
American Doll Posse is the ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter Tori Amos, released in 2007 by Epic Records. A concept album, American Doll Posse sees Amos assuming the identity of five different female personalities inspired by Greek mythology in order to narrate stories of life in modern America. Themes include opposition to the Iraq War, recording industry misogyny, disillusionment, sexuality, personal loss, and female empowerment in general. Musically, the record is more rock-oriented than other studio works by Amos, notably featuring more guitar and drums than previous albums The Beekeeper (2005) and Scarlet's Walk (2002).
"Bouncing Off Clouds" is a song written and recorded by Tori Amos. It was the first European and second American single from her album American Doll Posse. The song was released in the US to Triple A Radio in early August.
"Hey Jupiter" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Tori Amos. It was released as the fourth single from her third studio album, Boys for Pele (1996), and was her first extended play (EP) since Crucify in 1992. The US EP Hey Jupiter features a re-recorded version of "Hey Jupiter" followed by four live tracks recorded during her Dew Drop Inn Tour of 1996. The song is also featured on the double A-side CD singles released in the UK and Australia.
Abnormally Attracted to Sin is the tenth solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Tori Amos, released 19 May 2009, in standard and limited CD/DVD edition. The album debuted on Billboard 200 at no. 9, giving Amos her seventh Top 10 album in the US.
"Welcome to England" is a song by American singer and songwriter Tori Amos, appearing on the album Abnormally Attracted to Sin (2009). It was released as the lead digital single from the studio album on April 14, 2009 by Universal Motown Republic Group, which also marks as her first single released from the label. Written and produced by Amos herself, just like the rest of the album, the song was recorded at her husband's studio in England, Martian Studios.
Midwinter Graces is the eleventh solo studio album by singer-songwriter Tori Amos, released on November 10, 2009, through Universal Republic Records. It is the first seasonal album by Amos and is also notable for marking her return to a more classical, stripped-down, baroque sound with various synths, string instruments, the harpsichord, and Amos's own signature Bösendorfer piano at center stage, once more. The album, like previous releases from Amos, is available in a single-form CD or a deluxe edition, which includes three bonus tracks, a twenty-page photo book, and a DVD containing an interview with Amos. The standard edition was not released in the US or Canada. Midwinter Graces became Amos's lowest-charting album on the Billboard 200, peaking at number 66.
To Venus and Back is a double album by American singer, songwriter and pianist Tori Amos. Released on September 21, 1999, it comprises her fifth studio album and first live album. The first disc, entitled Venus: Orbiting, shows Amos increasingly experimenting with elements of electronica and trip hop, and spawned the singles "Bliss", "1000 Oceans", "Glory of the 80's", and "Concertina". The second disc, Venus Live, Still Orbiting, was recorded mostly during her Plugged '98 tour in support of her previous album, From the Choirgirl Hotel.
Night of Hunters is the twelfth solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Tori Amos, released on September 20, 2011, in the United States through Deutsche Grammophon. It is a concept album that Amos has described as "a 21st century song cycle inspired by classical music themes spanning over 400 years." She pays tribute to classical composers such as Alkan, Bach, Chopin, Debussy, Granados, Satie and Schubert, taking inspiration from their original compositions to create new, independent songs. Regarding the album's concept, she has described it as the exploration of "the hunter and the hunted and how both exist within us" through the story of "a woman who finds herself in the dying embers of a relationship."
John Philip Shenale is a Canadian composer, arranger, musician and producer based in Los Angeles.
The Gold Dust Orchestral Tour was a concert tour by American singer-songwriter Tori Amos in support of her compilation album Gold Dust. She was supported by the Metropole Orchestra in Europe, and by a String Octet from the Juilliard School in North America. Both North America dates were professionally recorded, with the New York City concert being streamed live by NPR Music and the Norfolk concert becoming part of the Infinity Hall Live TV series
Native Invader is the fifteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Tori Amos. It was released on September 8, 2017, through Decca Records. Its lead single "Cloud Riders", was released on July 27, 2017.
Ocean to Ocean is the sixteenth studio album by American musician Tori Amos. It was released on October 29, 2021 through Decca Records. The album was written during lockdown from the COVID-19 pandemic in Cornwall, England and featured the musicians collaborating remotely, with recording occurring in England, California, and Massachusetts. It is Amos's first studio album since Midwinter Graces (2009) to feature her typical backing band of Matt Chamberlain on drums, Jon Evans on bass, and Mac Aladdin on guitar.
↑ St. Leger, Marie Elsie (February 24, 1994). "Under The Pink". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on September 9, 2012. Retrieved July 3, 2012. Under the Pink, Tori Amos' second solo album, continues the singer-songwriter's exploration of her life's journey from the confines of a strict religious upbringing to personal and artistic freedom. She is armed with an attention-grabbing mezzo-soprano and lyrics that can kill with a turn of phrase.
↑ Amos & Powers 2005, p.27, "like a lot of other farmers in the South who didn't have slaves she was just defending her home at a certain point. 'those pollyticians were drummin' up on both sides of the Mason-Dixon. People could get all worked up--just hearin' the preacher talkin' about losin' everythin' to them greedy Yankees. It got folks all suspicious and scareder than scared, and they wasn't wrong to be scared'".
↑ Amos, Tori (May 5, 2020). Resistance: A Songwriter's Story of Hope, Change, and Courage Hardcover – May 5, 2020. Simon and Schuster. ISBN978-1982104153.
↑ Amos & Gaiman, Tori & Neil (December 6, 2022). Tori Amos: Little Earthquakes. Z2 Comics. ISBN978-1954928619.
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