Biography Of Tori Amos
The red-haired goddess we know as Tori Amos, was born Myra Ellen Amos to Dr. Edison and Mary Amos on August 22, 1963. She was born at the Old Catawba Hospital in Newton, NC, while her parents were visiting her grandparents-to-be. She favored her maternal grandfather who she affectionately called Popa. Later, Tori would adopt a lot of his views of the world and the little wonders that natured scattered around for her to find. Tori was 2 and half when she would mimic whatever her brother Mike and her sister Marie would practice that day on the piano (she could not even reach the pedals yet). Playing by ear, she soon played classical pieces, popular tunes, and anything else she heard.
It seemed only logical to the Amos family that Tori should expand her horizons as a pianist when she reached 5 years of age and could play anything she took a fancy to after hearing it once. So, they suited her up and made her the youngest student te Peabody Conservatory of Music had ever accepted. Although she felt that the teachers saw her as "a thing that could do things", she fit very well with other, older classmates. Her new found friends helped her discover and fall in love with the sounds of the Beatles, Led Zepplin & Jimi Hendrix.The fun of playing piano was threatened when instructors at the school forced Tori to learn how to read music in order to "break her ear". Tori's way of playing the classics did not soother the teachers' ears. She loved to play the songs as she felt them; needless to say, when Tori reched 10 years old, her way of playing the classics led to her being kicked out of school.
After leaving the conservatory and awhile of studying, Tori decided to reach her goal and become a rock star. She started playing in clubs with her father as a chaperone - surprisingly, gay bars were the first ones to open the doors to a 13-year-old and her Methodist minister father. In the fall of 1980, Tori cut her 1st single with the private pressing of a song co-written with her brother Mike. The song was entiled, "Baltimore", written in honor of the city's baseball team, the Baltimore Orioles. She was awarded from the city's Mayor for "The splendid quality of public service which you have rendered". In 1983, she changed her name from Myra Ellen to Tori, after a friend's boyfriend said she looked more like a Tori - thus, this became her stage name. She then flew to San Francisco to record a demo at Narada's Automatic Studio, her focus turned from the piano to her voice and home recording equiptment.
One year later, Tori left home to head to L.A. where she would later face the worst night of her life. After offering a ride home to a fan, he in turn raped and threatened to kill her. She promised herself never to speak of the experience and tried to move one. In 1987, she signed with Atlantic Records to record an album with a band she had put together called Y Kant Tori Read. This album was a total disaster - she went from child prodigy to being called a bimbo. Needless to say, she took this failure very hard. It was during this stint in L.A. that helped to pay the rent she did a commercial for Kellogg's Just Right cereal; ironically enough, she was chosen over now-popular actress Sarah Jessica Parker (of Sex and the City fame) to be in the spot.
