Spotlight On: TORI AMOS

ABOUT THIS WEEK’S SHERO IN THE SPOTLIGHT:

Tori Amos was a classically trained child prodigy, who started playing piano at age two, and by age five, became the youngest person ever to be admitted into the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, where she went on full scholarship. The daughter of a minister, popular music wasn’t allowed in the house, but it found its way to her anyhow, as did a somewhat rebellious nature, and by age 11 she was expelled from the conservatory. Prompted by her father, who was determined to see Tori use her gift, Tori began playing gigs at piano bars in Washington throughout her teens, before moving to Los Angeles in her early twenties to pursue a career as a musician. She landed a record deal with Atlantic Records with her first project, a synth pop band called Y Kant Tori Read, and put out their debut in 1988. It was not commercially successful. But just a few short years later in 1992, Tori Amos’s solo debut Little Earthquakes arrived, and with it, the start of a now three-decade career. That first album is now double platinum in the U.S., and is often referred to as one of the greatest albums of all time. From the outset, Tori Amos has always been an outspoken feminist and advocate for women’s equality in music, as well as the first and ongoing national spokesperson for RAINN - the rape, abuse & incest national network. With eight Grammy nominations, and three BRIT Award nominations to her name, just to name a few, Tori’s creativity has expanded to write a musical, and two memoirs, including the 2020 book Resistance. And now she is back with her sixteenth studio album, Ocean to Ocean, which we celebrate this week as Tori Amos joins us as this week’s SHERO in the Spotlight.

Our playlist includes new music from WILLOW, Circuit des Yeux and Bedouine, plus a new track called “Write A List of Things To Look Forward To” from Courtney Barnett’s upcoming album Things Take Time Take Time set to be released next month. 

SHERO BIRTHDAYS:
We celebrate a number of SHERO birthdays this week. Happy Birthday on Halloween to Annabella Lwin of Bow Wow Wow, as well as WILLOW, and First Aid Kit’s Johanna Söderberg. Plus we celebrate the milestone birthday of k.d. lang who turns 60 on 11/2. And Happy Birthday to Courtney Barnett on 11/3!

This week’s Radio SHERO: 

Alisha Sweeney from Indie 102.3 in Denver joins us this week to share a favorite “banger” from Caroline Polachek called “Bunny Is A Rider” that was released as a single earlier this year.