Tori Amos

Idiosyncratic singer-songwriter Tori Amos is known for her rousing piano-led songs which often deal with heavy subjects like religion, feminism and personal tragedy. Despite struggling to break into the singles charts, she has sold over 12 million albums, many of which have also been critically acclaimed.

Amos earned a music scholarship to the Peabody Institute at the age of five, but her growing interest in popular music was at odds with the school's views and she was asked to leave after six years. At 21 she moved to the East Coast and made a living by playing in piano bars and acting on TV shows and in adverts, including an advert for Kellogg's Just Right cereal (despite her later hit "Cornflake Girl", that wasn't cornflakes). Her debut album, Y Kant Tori Read, was released in 1988, but the market wasn't ready for her type of music and it was not a success, although it has since become something of a collector's item due to its scarcity. Amos relocated to the UK where it was thought a more receptive audience for her music might be found. She released the single "Silent All These Years" which helped to build her reputation, so when her second album, Little Earthquakes (1992), was released, it stayed in the charts for six months. Having established her audience, the follow-up, Under the Pink, reached No.1 in the UK charts, partly due to the success of "Cornflake Girl".

Boys for Pele took Amos in a different direction when Armand Van Helden's dance remix of "Professional Widow" was a chart success and a huge hit in the clubs. Amos embraced electronica and a bigger production sound for From the Choirgirl Hotel. Several tracks from the album, including "Spark" and "Raspberry Swirl", were remixed into dance-friendly shapes. She continued with the dance influence on To Venus and Back, which made the Top 20 on both sides of the Atlantic. Her next release was Strange Little Girls, an album of cover versions, including songs by Eminem, the Beatles, and Neil Young.

The Scarlet's Walk album, described by Amos as a 'sonic novel', came in a limited edition version which harked back to the heyday of the concept album. The album contained a DVD and assorted memorabilia and in addition to being a commercial success, it was also nominated for a Grammy for the packaging. Again dance fans made the Timo Maas remix of "Don't Make Me Come To Vegas" a hit.

The Beekeeper, infused with elements of funk and R&B, was released to mixed reviews, although it reached the Top 30 in the UK and the US. Her next studio album, American Doll Posse, was described by Amos as a summation of her previous work and the end of an era. With Amos' career to date showing so many influences, it's hard to predict what she will do next, but her commercial success would suggest that she has a legion of fans eager to find out.