Tori Amos

Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos on August 22, 1963 in Newton, North Carolina, USA) is an American singer-songwriter.

Trivia

• The character Delirium in Neil Gaiman's comic The Sandman bears a striking resemblance to Amos, which is all the more surprising since the character was created before Gaiman and Amos met and became close friends. "Delirium was created before I met Tori, but they steal shamelessly from each other," Gaiman once said. Since their meeting in 1991 Gaiman and Amos have collaborated on several projects. Gaiman also appears in many of Tori's songs. The character of Delirium was in fact based on another friend of his, Kathy Acker.
• Married English sound engineer, Mark Hawley, in England in a non-denominational wedding with Irish musicians playing Celtic tunes; Mark is the inspiration for her songs "Northern Lad," "Snow Cherries from France" "Jamaica Inn" and "Goodbye Pisces". A b-side, entitled "Never Seen Blue", is also said to be about him. They have a daughter, Natashya Lorien Hawley (nickname "Tash"), born on September 5, 2000.
• In 2001, Amos was voted the fourth greatest female artist in rock music by Q magazine behind PJ Harvey, Madonna, and Kate Bush.
• The hurricanes striking the state of Florida in 2004 tossed a boat onto Amos’s property there, destroying her pier. Despite many pleas for help the owner could not be located and Amos eventually wrote a letter to officials stating that "perhaps our local craftsmen could come cut it into parts". After the letter was sent, the owner surfaced.
• In November of 2004, Michael Edison Amos (Tori's brother) died in a car crash in North Carolina.
• Following the #5 debut of The Beekeeper on the US album chart in 2005, Amos joined an elite club of female artists to have achieved five or more Top 10 debuts in the US - this club includes Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, Céline Dion, Janet Jackson, Madonna, Britney Spears, LeAnn Rimes, and Barbra Streisand.
• In March of 2005, The Beekeeper became Amos' highest-charting album in Germany, at #8.
• On May 18, 2005, at her concert in Melbourne, Australia, Amos performed a cover of Kylie Minogue's "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" in support of the Australian-born singer, the day after Minogue's breast cancer was announced.
• Once while playing a benefit concert for RAINN, Amos was joined on stage by Maynard James Keenan of Tool, who sang "Muhammad My Friend" with her. She said that he sang to her and baked her cookies when she felt depressed.
• In March of 2005, in an interview with the BBC, Tori spoke of her experiences with the hallucinogen Ayahuasca. She describes how the experience influenced the writing of the song "Father Lucifer."
• Amos co-wrote and recorded a song with Michael Stipe for the soundtrack to the film Don Juan DeMarco; the song was not accepted by the label and has been indefinitely shelved. Footage of the two rehearsing the song was shown on television.
• Many other musicians have expressed their admiration for Amos's work. Polly Jean Harvey, Robert Plant (they are friends, and according to Amos Robert Plant was the one who informed her about the release of her first bootlegs), Shirley Manson from Garbage, Bjork, Alanis Morissette (who toured with Amos in 1999), Michael Stipe of R.E.M. and Dream Theater are among those.
• Amos has contributed more original (not previously-released) recordings to soundtracks than any other pop singer in history, including "Higher Learning," "Mission Impossible 2," "Toys," "Great Expectations," "Mona Lisa Smile," "Hand of Fate," "and "China O'Brien".