A force of nature with a career spanning nearly four decades, Tori Amos is one of the most prolific songwriters in the world. In an industry dominated by men, her piano driven songs address everything from politics, religion, and gender roles to sexual assault, depression, and oppression, all from a distinctively feminine point of view. Nominated for 8 Grammy Awards, Tori Amos was a rebel from the beginning and a true force of nature.
Born Myra Ellen Amos on August 22nd, 1963 in Newton, North Carolina and raised in Baltimore and Silver Spring, Maryland, the child showed a striking talent for playing piano at an early age. Two male family members would have a huge impact on the young girl: her father, a pastor in a Methodist church, supported her musical ambitions, and she had a close relationship with her grandfather, whose pantheistic religious beliefs were a contrast to her dad’s more traditional views on Christianity. The influence of both men would play a significant role in the religious themes she would later explore in her songs as an adult.
Amos began composing her own pieces on the piano at the age of 5. So impressive were her early efforts that she was awarded a full scholarship to the Peabody Conservatory of Music. Though she showed great promise her instructors were dismayed at her interest in rock music and apparent lack of attention in reading sheet music, and her scholarship ended when she was 11. She continued to write her own songs and was soon singing them in Baltimore piano bars and gay clubs, often chaperoned by her father. In 1977 as a senior in high school, Myra composed a song for a Baltimore Orioles baseball competition. Her song, co-written with her brother, Mike, entitled “Baltimore“, won the contest and was released as her first 7 inch single under the name Tori Amos.
After several years of performing in the Washington DC/Baltimore area, Amos moved to Los Angeles in order to pursue a music career. In 1986 she formed a synthpop band called Y Can’t Tori Read (a winking reference to her inability to read sheet music). Her new found group included drummer Matt Sorum (who later found great success drumming with Guns N’ Roses) and guitarist Steve Caron, (who played on many of Amos’s solo albums). Y Can’t Tori Read became a popular club draw in LA and the band was signed to a 6 album deal with Atlantic Records. Creative interference from record executives would stifle the band’s musical vision and their self titled debut (released in July, 1988) was a critical and commercial disappointment. Y Can’t Yori Read dissolved after the record was released, leaving behind the band’s only single/video, “The Big Picture“.
Obligated to Atlantic to record 5 more albums, Tori relocated to London and spent the next two years recording what would be her debut solo album with her boyfriend and producer Eric Rosse. The result was “Little Earthquakes” released in early 1992 to global acclaim and the lead single, “Me and a Gun“, was Amos’s harrowing account of being raped at knife point in Los Angeles when she was 21. This intense live performance from 1992 is unforgettable.
The follow up single, “Silent All These Years” went on to become an MTV Buzz video and won several awards. Check out this live version from the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1992
It was the albums final single, “Crucify“, that became an underground club anthem when DJ’s began to remix it on their own.
The religious themes would mix with feminism for Amos’s sophomore album, “Under the Pink“. Released in January 1994 the full length hit #12 on the US Billboard Top 200 chart and went Top 10 in numerous European countries, proof positive that Amos was now a commercial and creative force to be reckoned with. The album’s lead single, “God“, questioned the Lord’s relevance in the modern world and the patriarchy of mainstream Christianity.
Another hit single from this LP was “Cornflake Girl“, that addressed girl-on-girl bullying and female genital mutilation.
While Tori spent the next year and a half touring the world to support “Under The Pink” her relationship with Rosse ended and she vowed to produce her next album, “Boys For Pele“, alone. Her new project incorporated the sounds of brass bands and orchestras into Amos’s trademark, piano-based sound, while her lyrics continued to explore themes of religion and sexism. “Boys … ” was another success on all front and it’s biggest single, “Professional Widow“, would top the UK Singles Chart and the US Billboard Hot Club Play Chart. remixed by Armand Van Helden.
Amos would embrace the club sound, full on, in her next single, an ode to performing oral sex on women, entitled “Raspberry Swirl“. Featuring a thumping House beat provided by drummer Matt Chamberlain (of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden), ” … Swirl” became a dancefloor anthem and again topped the singles charts. Its parent album, “From the Choirgirl Hotel“, was released in May 1998 and saw the artist record and perform with a full rock band (for the first time) while incorporating elements of both electronica, goth, and dance music into her sound. The record was her most commercially successful to date and launched the sold out “Plugged In Tour“.
In 2002 Amos fulfilled her contract with Atlantic by releasing a covers album, “Strange Little Girls” that specifically featured songs written by men, switching the gender of the narrator and singing [them] from a female perspective. One of the most touching moments of this unusual concept project was the version of Depeche Mode‘s club anthem “Enjoy the Silence” as she turned the UK band’s most euphoric track into a sad, melancholy statement about a woman who is told by her lover to always remain silent.
With her status as a leading international songwriter cemented, Tori Amos would spend the next decade recording for Epic and Universal Records. 2002′s “Scarlett’s Walk“, 2005′s “The Beekeeper“, 2007′s “American Doll Posse“, and 2009′s “Abnormally Attracted to Sin” were dark, personal, experimental projects that saw the artist’s fanbase double to two generations all while still charting in the US Billboard Top 10. And “American Doll …” yielded one of PRO MOTION’s favorite Tori singles, “Bouncing Off Clouds“.
In 2012, Ms Amos released “Gold Dust“, a greatest hits collection of her favorite songs re-recorded with an orchestra. We, at PRO MOTION, had the honor of working with Ms. Amos and the late, Peter Rauhofer on the remix of fan favorite, “Flavor“, which secured a #1 Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart position in February 2013. As fate would have it, this would be Rauhofer’s final remix before his untimely passing.
Check out the exclusive, in depth interview that PRO MOTION did with Ms. Amos regarding her feelong on dance music, “Flavor”, and her creative process.
Now in the 4th decade of her career, 2014 sees Tori Amos going stronger than ever. On May 13, 2014 she released her 14th studio album, “Unrepentant Geraldines“. A collection of beautifully melodic chamber pop songs, the album is seen as a return to form and once again debuted in the US Billboard Top 10 (Amos’s 8th consecutive release to do so). And Tori is currently touring Europe, her first in a decade without a backing band. Check out Tori’s latest single, “Trouble’s Lament“.