The outspoken piano powerhouse behind hits such as Cornflake Girl spoke frankly about religion, desire and genderRead more from The fandom that made me seriesMy childhood best friend introduced me to plenty of cool musicians: Nine Inch Nails, Shakespears Sister, Suzanne Vega. But I remain eternally grateful for the moment in the mid-90s when she slipped me a dubbed cassette of a Tori Amos album, its song titles spelled out in purple and green pen on the J-card in loopy handwriting.
I was certainly familiar with Tori: the pianist’s flame-red hair and inscrutable, mischievous singles such as Cornflake Girl were impossible to miss on
MTV. Even during a decade in which musical weirdness bubbled to the surface, the way she contorted her voice around piano, synths and other keyboards – an anguished howl one moment, a knowing growl the next – were striking.