Dynamic singer-songwriter-pianist noted for her cultlike following, mostly uninterpretable lyics, controversial subject matter, and flaming red hair. Born Myra Ellen Amos to Edison and
Mary Amos of
Maryland in 1963 (with dark brown hair; she dyes it), she began playing piano at age 2, began classical training at Peabody conservatory at age
5, began playing in piano
bars at age
13, and moved to LA at 21. While there she survived a ual assault which inspired her to co-form the
Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN) and write the haunting, a capella Me and a
Gun. She is now married to her sound
engineer, Mark Hawley, and they live in Cornwall with daughter Natashya. Her albums to
date (and first singles in parentheses) are 1988's Y Kant Tori Read (featuring Cool On Your Island), 1992's Little Earthquakes (featuring Silent All These Years), 1994's Under the Pink (God), 1996's Boys for Pele (Caught a Lite
Sneeze), 1998's From the Choirgirl Hotel (Spark), 1999's To Venus and Back (Bliss), 2001's Strange Little
Girls (an album of covers, featuring the title
track), 2003's Scarlet's Walk (featuring A Sorta Fairytale), and 2005's The Beekeeper (Sleeps with Butterflies). She is often compared to singer-songwriter Kate Bush, more for lack of similarity to anyone else than any actual similarity to each other. Interestingly and slightly ironically, her best-selling album, Boys for Pele, was preceeded by a power struggle between herself and her record label, in which they threatened to and followed through with promoting her as little as legally possible.