Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos on August 22, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter. She is married to English sound engineer Mark Hawley, and they have one daughter together, Natashya "Tash" Lórien Hawley, born on September 5, 2000.
Amos was at the forefront of a number of female singer-songwriters in the early 1990s and is noteworthy as one of the few modern pop music stars to utilize a piano as her primary instrument and play piano rock, paving the way for subsequent commercially successful bands such as Coldplay and Keane, who both use piano as a focal instrument. She is known for lyrically opaque but emotionally intense songs that tackle a wide range of subjects, including sexuality, religion, patriarchy and personal tragedy. Some of her charting singles include "Crucify", "Silent All These Years", "Caught a Lite Sneeze", "Me and a Gun", "Jackie's Strength", "God", "Cornflake Girl", "A Sorta Fairytale", "Professional Widow" and "Spark".
Amos has experienced limited chart success in the United States and the United Kingdom, but has also enjoyed a large cult following, selling around 12 million albums worldwide during her lengthy solo career. She is also known for making eccentric and, at times, ribald comments during interviews and in concerts, lending her a reputation as being oddball yet individual.
Higher Learning (1995)
