Tori Amos

Was a record ever as aptly titled as US singer-songwriter Tori Amos’ debut album, Little Earthquakes? Though going resolutely against the grain in the grunge-dominated music scene of early 1992, this seismic collection of compelling, piano-based confessionals erupted critically and commercially, with its UK Top 20 success signalling the arrival of a highly original new talent.

In the decades since, the flame-haired chanteuse has continued to follow her peripatetic muse wherever it may take her. Her subsequent Atlantic Records releases included further career highs such as Boys For Pele, the UK chart-topping Under The Pink and the electro-tinged from the choirgirl hotel, while 2001’s striking Strange Little Girls saw her take a selection of songs written by male artists and radically reinterpret them from a female perspective. Amos’ more recent releases, such as the stripped-back Unrepentant Geraldines, the environmentally inclined Native Invader and the chamber-pop-inspired Ocean To Ocean remain streaked with otherworldly beauty and continue to enhance one of modern music’s most singular bodies of work.