Tori Amos is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. She is a classically trained musician with a mezzo-soprano vocal range. 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". Amos was the lead singer of the short-lived 1980s pop 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.
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' 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.
Boys for Pele is the third studio album by American singer and songwriter Tori Amos. Preceded by the first single, "Caught a Lite Sneeze", by three weeks, the album was released on January 22, 1996, in the United Kingdom, on January 23 in the United States, and on January 29 in Australia. Despite the album being Amos's least radio friendly material to date, Boys for Pele debuted at number two on both the US Billboard 200 and the UK Albums Chart, making it her biggest simultaneous transatlantic debut, her first Billboard top 10 debut, and the highest-charting US debut of her career to date.
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.
A Tori Amos Collection: Tales of a Librarian is the first retrospective compilation album by American singer-songwriter Tori Amos. Given the option to be involved in the project, Amos elected to take a central role in the production of the collection, released in 2003 on her former label Atlantic Records.
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.
A Piano: The Collection is a five-disc box set spanning the first 15 years of the solo career of American singer and songwriter Tori Amos. Released on September 26, 2006, by Rhino Records as part of the contract Amos negotiated with Warner Music Group, the set includes singles, album tracks, B-sides, rarities, demos, and unreleased songs from album sessions.
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).
"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.
"1000 Oceans" is a song by Tori Amos, released as the second single from her 1999 album To Venus and Back. It reached number 22 on the Hot 100 Singles Sales, though it did not chart on the Hot 100. The song deals with issues of love and loss, and is based on the singer's personal experiences. It was released on September 7, 1999, and was generally well received by critics.
Little Earthquakes is the debut solo album by the American singer-songwriter Tori Amos, featuring the singles "Silent All These Years", "China", "Winter" and "Crucify". After Atlantic Records rejected the first version of the album, Amos began working on a second version with her then-boyfriend Eric Rosse. The album was first released in the UK on January 6, 1992, where it peaked at number 14 in the charts.
"Dātura" is a song by singer, songwriter, and pianist Tori Amos, released on her fifth studio album To Venus and Back. At eight minutes and twenty-five seconds in length, it is the longest song in the studio portion of the album.
"Glory of the 80's" is a song by American singer-songwriter Tori Amos. It is the fourth track on Amos' 1999 album To Venus and Back. It was issued as the first single from the album in Europe and Australasia. Part one of the single was released in Australia on October 11, 1999, and both parts were released a month later in Europe and the UK on November 1, 1999. The song reached #46 on the UK singles chart, having the lowest debut since her 1994 single God when both parts of the single were recalled early for a misprint in the credits. In Australia, the single peaked at #81 on the ARIA singles chart, becoming Amos' final single to reach the top 100 there.
Gold Dust is the 13th solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Tori Amos, released on October 1, 2012 by Deutsche Grammophon and Mercury Classics. The album is produced by Amos with arrangements by long-time collaborator John Philip Shenale. Inspired by and following in a similar vein as Amos's previous effort, the classical music album Night of Hunters (2011), Gold Dust features some of her previously released alternative rock and baroque pop songs re-worked in an orchestral setting. The material for Gold Dust, consisting of songs selected by Amos spanning almost her entire catalogue at the time, from Little Earthquakes (1992) through Midwinter Graces (2009), was recorded with the Metropole Orchestra, conducted by Jules Buckley.
Unrepentant Geraldines is the fourteenth studio album by American musician Tori Amos. It was released on May 9, 2014 through Mercury Classics. The album marks a return to pop and rock music after several releases in the classical genre. Recorded at her own Martian Engineering Studios, the album was self-produced and mixed by her husband Mark Hawley and Marcel van Limbeek.
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.
