Artist:Tori Amos
Song:Cornflake Girl
Album:Tales of a Librarian
Singer songwriter Tori Amos was successful in the 90s as an album and touring artist. She never had a hit single but Cornflake Girl is one of her best known songs. Tori still records for a major label but her albums haven't sold well since the 90s. I think she owes much of her success to MTV. She was born Myra Ellen Amos Aug. 22, 1963 in Newton, NC while her parents were on a trip from their home in Washington, DC. Her father was a Methodist minister and he soon moved his ministry to Baltimore. Tori's older brother and sister took piano lessons. But Tori taught herself to play. And if you have ever heard her, you will know that she is really good. She wrote songs at age three. At age five, she was the youngest student ever admitted into the Peabody Institute. She studied classical piano there under scholarship from 1968-74. Her scholarship was discontinued when she expressed interest in popular music. Also, Tori didn't like reading from sheet music. After her family moved to Silver Springs in 1972, Tori started playing local clubs chaperoned by her father. She won a teen talent contest in 1977. And a song she wrote for a Baltimore Orioles song contest became her first single which she gave to family and friends. She took the name Tori after a friend said she looked like a Torrey pine tree. When Tori was 17, her dad was sending out demos. The first to respond was producer Narada Michael Walden. Remember he discovered Stacy Lattisaw. They recorded together but none were released. Then Atlantic Records responded and A&R man Jason Flom flew to Baltimore to audition and then sign her. Flom went on to found Lava Records. Tori moved to Los Angeles in 1984. She formed the band Y Kant Tori Read in 1986 and they released an unsuccessful album in 1988. The band name was because Tori couldn't read sheet music. Tori says that record company meddling torpedoed the band and she was unhappy with the album. After they split up, guitarist Steve Caton remained until 1999. Tori turned to session work as a backup vocalist. Tori still had a six album contract with Atlantic and they wanted a new album. The result was the 1992 album Little Earthquakes which was certified 2XPlatinum and sold 3M copies worldwide without the benefit of a hit single. Cornflake Girl is from the 1994 album Under the Pink. As with the first album, it was produced by Eric Rosse, a Los Angeles session musician. By this time, the two were in a personal relationship.. Cornflake Girl reached #7 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart and #4 on the British Singles chart. Like the first album, Under the Pink was certified 2XPlatinum. Tori's biggest hit was Professional Widow from the 1996 album Boys for Pele. It topped the Dance chart. By this time Tori was self producing. Tori's success was mainly because MTV played her videos in heavy rotation. And touring of course. But MTV was a big factor. As Tori got got more into dance and electronica on the albums Choirgirl Hotel (1998) and To Venus and Back (1999), album sales decreased and she left Atlantic after the 2001 album Strange Little Girls. This budget comp covers the Atlantic years. After that, Tori released three albums for Epic but got lost in the shuffle after Epic president Polly Anthony left and then the Sony/BMG merger complicated things. Tori signed with Universal in 2009 and has bounced around their various labels. Her latest album Ocean to Ocean was released on Decca in 2021. Tori lives in Bude, England with sound engineer husband Mark Hawley and she usually records at his studio in Cornwall. When she was on tour last year, Tori was telling people that she should have a new album coming in 2024 and then a 2025 tour. Here's the video for Cornflake Girls by Tori Amos.
No comments:
Post a Comment