Tori Amos in the Spotlight - A Guest Feature By Jennifer Bollnow

Melanie's Muses is pleased to welcome Jennifer Bollnow with a guest spotlight feature about Tori Amos for today's Music Feature!  Be sure to let us know what you think of her article in the comments below!

Jennifer Bollnow - 

,Have you ever heard a song or singer that just voices everything you are feeling?  Mine, for over 25 years, has been Tori Amos.  She has a unique skill to make a piano and her voice sound more powerful than a full band.  She can be vulnerable or aggressive, She can rock a ballad or sweetly sing a lullaby.  Heck she could sing the phone book and I would listen!
 
Born in North Carolina, Tori started playing piano as soon as she could stand, and began composing her own pieces at age 3.  She is a classically trained pianist.  She received a scholarship to the Peabody Institute age of 5 but was kicked out 6 years later for not playing school approved music. Besides being a musical genius she has chromesthesia where she can see the notes as moving colorful, lights, and shapes. At 13 she played in piano bars and gay bars with her father, and Methodist preacher, as her chaperon.  She had a short lived pop group, Y Kant Tori Read but their album flopped and she went solo. 

​Her debut solo album (and still my favorite after all these years) is Little Earthquakes.  Tori sings about religion, sex, feminism, sexual assault, politics and more.  She not only makes playing the piano sexy but she can play 2 pianos at the same time or play piano along with a harpsichord keyboard or organ.  

via GIPHY

​Tori has released 15 albums since Little Earthquakes, some of which are just her and a piano, some with a full band and others with an orchestra.  Her daughter has even recorded a few songs with her.  She has adapted the book Light Princess into a musical which won awards in England.  Tori is close friends with author Neil Gaiman (he is even her daughter’s godfather) and you can find easter eggs of each other's work in their own writing.  She even did a song on the soundtrack of the series Good Omens, called A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square.  She has received a total of 8 Grammy nominations and 5 MTV VMA nominations.

via GIPHY

​Tori has also been the spokesperson for RAINN Rape Abuse and Incest National Network after her haunting acapella song, Me and a Gun, that tells her own personal story.  

Tori’s most recent album was released on December 4th in vinyl or digital download.  She recorded the songs for Christmastide at home during quarantine for Covid 19.  
 
CHRISTMASTIDE
1. Christmastide
2. Circle of Seasons
3. Holly
4. Better Angels
 
“With Christmastide, it was important to be positive and to try and lift people’s spirits.
It’s a time of year that should be joyful with family and friends but also can sadly be a very lonely place for some.
Many families will be unable to be together this year because of the pandemic as well as many that are also dealing with the aftermath of a long and bitter US election. I hope these songs contained in this beautiful package can be a small treat to help along the way.”
from ToriAmos.com 

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Jennifer Bollnow is a TVaholic with no possibility or desire to rehab. She met Melanie when they worked together on the former Voice of TV website. She especially loves sci-fi, fantasy, Christmas movies and anything with Patrick Swayze. She loves helping people find their new favorite series. Her current obsessions is Outlander. This is her second guest article for Melanie's Muses!