Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos; August 22, 1963[7]) is an American singer-songwriter, pianist and composer. She is a classically trained musician and has 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 age five, the youngest person ever to have been admitted. She was expelled at age eleven for what Rolling Stone described as "musical insubordination."[9] Amos originally served as 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 have focused on a broad range of topics, including sexuality, feminism, politics and religion.[10]
Some of her charting singles include "Crucify", "Silent All These Years", "God", "Cornflake Girl", "Caught a Lite Sneeze", "Professional Widow", "Spark", "1000 Oceans", "Flavor", and "A Sorta Fairytale", her most commercially successful single in the U.S. to date.[11] Amos has sold more than 12 million albums worldwide[12] and has been nominated for numerous awards, including five MTV VMA nominations, eight Grammy nominations, and winning an Echo award in 2012 for her classical work.
