The Life of Tori Amos

By: Joy Palumbo

Tori Amos was born on Aug. 22 1963 in Old Catawba Hospital in Newton, North Carolina. Her birth name is Myra Ellen Amos. Her dad is a methodist minister. Her mother is part Cherokee which has influenced Tori in many ways. Tori spent many hours of her life on her grand parents Cherokee reservation. Tori’s family moved to Baltimore, Maryland where at the age of five, Tori was admitted into the Peabody conservatory of music and was to be the youngest student to every be admitted into the conservatory. At the conservatory, they expected her to play Mozart and Beethoven but Tori had other composers on her mind. She was more interested in playing the music of The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix. Her instructors did not like that so Tori “left” the Peabody Institute. The Amos’ had moved to Springfield, Maryland where, at the age of 13, Tori and her father decided to have Tori play at lounges in Georgetown. She ended up playing at Mr. Henry’s, a gay bar. In 1980 Tori released her first single “Baltimore” which was written in the honor of the Baltimore Orioles. Her senior year, Tori was named Most likely to succeed and was crowned homecoming queen. After high school, went to college solo for musical purposes and stayed busy playing in different lounges. She was looking for the perfect stage name. Her friend introduced her boyfriend to Tori after a show one night and he said her name was Tori so, Tori it is. Tori’s dad is a very dedicated dad and supported her musical interests. He He sent demo’s to every major record label in the U.S. When Tori turned 21 she decided to persue the big time and moved to L.A. She wasn’t met by luck though. Not only was she having a hard time making it big but one night, after a night of performing at a club, one of the members of her audience asked for a ride home and raped her. Tori vowed to never speak of this incident. After that she worked twice as hard on her music. She decided to put together a band and that’s when, in 1985, Y kant Tori Read was born. Atlantic records agreed to give them a record deal. They released the video for “The Big Picture”. And had singles to “The Big Picture”, and “Cool On Your Island”. Their new CD crashed! This highly disappointed Tori. Shortly afterwards Y kant Tori Read broke up. In the fall of 1989 Tori was given another chance by Atlantic Records so Tori went off to work to write another CD, but she decided solo this time. She wound up creating one of the greatest albums ever, Little Earthquakes. Tori started by creating a Faerie ring on her living room floor. This faerie ring is where some of her songs from Little Earthquakes were born. Tori listened to her heart this time and created some very great songs. Little Earthquakes is in diary form, which is about her rape, failures, and struggles. Tori was having a hard time selling these songs to the record company so her manager thought it would be a good idea trying her music out in England. Tori was ecstatic to go over to England! Tori soon became a huge hit! While in England Tori watched a movie called “Thelma and Louise”. This movie brought up her old feeling from being raped. Later that afternoon she wrote “Me and a Gun”, a song about her rape which is song in a capella. For the first time since her rape Tori decided to listen to her feeling and emotions and wrote from the heart. In 1992 Little Earthquakes debuted at #15 in the charts. From there Tori’s profession blossomed. Little Earthquakes was followed by “Under The Pink”, “Boys For Pele”, “from the Choirgirl Hotel” and her last CD, ”To Venus and Back”. Tori has won the hearts of millions with her cryptic lyrics, powerful voice and her charming personality. Tori is the goddess of music. She pulls us in and never lets go.

(all information was pulled from Tori Amos; The Authorized Biography)