Tori Amos

Singer and pianist Myra Ellen Amos, more known as Tori Amos, was born in the American town of Newton in 1963. The family moved to Baltimore, Maryland, when the girl was two years old. There Amos started to play the piano. By the age of nine, she began to compose songs. In 1968, the girl got the scholarship for the Peabody Conservatory Of Music and became the youngest student ever to attend the establishment. However, at the age eleven, she was expelled from the conservatory due to the problems with discipline. Two years later Amos entered the Montgomery College and began to perform in bars, while her father made records of her concerts and sent demos to the different studios. The Baltimore track, written by Amos with her brother Mike for cheering up Baltimore Orioles, became the first single of the young singer. After her twenty-first birthday, Tori Amos moved to Los Angeles where she formed the band titled Y Kant Tori Read. The artist was raped after one of her solo performances. This tragic experience became the basis for the lyrics of the debut album of the band - Y Kant Tori Read, released by the Atlantic Records.

The release was a flop, the band dissolved and Tori got down to her solo record. As the passionate vocals by Amos was accompanied by the piano, the studio heads decided that it would be easier for her to reach grow to popularity in England - the motherland of piano rock, and later strive for the fame Olympus in the USA. In 1992, the Little Earthquakes album was released, dedicated mostly to the theme of feminism and Tori's private experience - the singer herself actively performed in English pubs before it. The album featured two hit singles, Silent All These Years and Crucify. The artist traveled to Mexico where she wrote the material for her follow-up Under The Pink with the touching world hit Cornflake Girl. Tori became the active member of The Rape, Abuse And Incest National Network which helps the victims of these crimes all over the world. Around the same time, her professional romance with Eric Rosse came to the end and her emotion about this event became the basis for her long-play Boys For Pele. Fulfilled in Baroque pop style, the disc was recorded in the Irish church and amused the listeners with dark and experimental sound - the innovations by Amos are noticeable on her hit Professional Widow.

In 1998, Tori married to the record engineer Mark Hawley. Their family life was darkened with Amos's three miscarriages. However, the singer managed to perform and record new albums at the same time. This was caused with Atlantic's tough policy - which was the reason for Tori to leave the label after the contract termination. In 1998, the daring electronica and jazz album From The Choirgirl Hotel saw light and was based on the latest disappointments in the artist's life. In a year, the double album To Venus And Back with the open hit Bliss followed. In September 2000, Amos luckily gave birth to her daughter Natashya - she made a break in her career for this event. In 2001, she released the conceptual collection of covers Strange Little Girls. A year later, she celebrated fifteen years of her scenic activity with the disc Scarlet's Walk. On this work, bass guitar and drums gorgeously supported the piano play. In 2003, the artist collected her best songs on the Tails Of A Librarian disc. In 2005, Amos issued the eclectic disc The Beekeeper, devoted to religious and political questions. In 2007, the performer made the brilliant full-length American Doll Posse, on which she sang every track in a new role. After this release, Tori stated that her next album would be produced independently. This happened in 2009, as the music market offered the singer’s fresh long player under the title Abnormally Affected To Sin. The record featured predominantly ballad-based material with Amos again demonstrating her unsurpassed vocal skills. Moreover, another record titled Midwinter Graces was released in 2009. It included classical compositions and songs that had been written by Tori. Numerous critics were pleased by the singer’s eleventh studio attempt and they noted the traditional bright atmosphere and Amos’ easy recognizable manner of performance.