August 22
Myra Ellen Amos born in Newton, North Carolina. Parents: Dr. Edison Amos - a Methodist minister, and his wife Mary Ellen. Siblings: brother Mike (age 9) and sister Marie (age 7).

Family moves from Washington D.C. to Baltimore, Maryland.

at age 2 1/2, starts playing the piano by ear. at age 3-4 starts playing piano scores and writing her own songs.

at age 5, Myra Ellen wins a scholarship to the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, MD. She is the youngest person ever to be admitted to the Peabody Conservatory.

Around this time she discovers The Beatles "Sgt Pepper's" album in the household. Soon discovers Hendrix and Led Zeppelin during her years in the Conservatory.

June - family moves to Silver Spring, MD

January
her Cherokee Grandfather ("Poppa") dies. Myra Ellen sings his favorite hymns at his funeral and sings to him at his grave every week til age 13.

She runs away from home (at age 10) to find Robert Plant and gets as far as her friend's house.

December - her "Victorian" grandmother dies.

at Age 11, Myra Ellen loses her scholarship and is booted out of the Conservatory

March - enters local teen talent contest and wins $100 first prize.

Summer
lands her first regular, non-paying gig at Mr. Henry's (a gay club near the Georgetown area of Washington) Her father chaperones during her performances, much to the delight of the patrons.

June - Family moves to Rockville United Methodist Church parsonage.

Ellen starts taking voice lessons and performs in Rockville Summer Theater and in several school productions, including lead role in Gypsy. Directs children's choir in her father's church.

April - performs at University of North Dakota Indian Association's Wacipi Festival.

Autumn
records first single "Baltimore" (co-written with older brother Mike) released privately on her own label, MEA (her initials).

December - voted Homecoming Queen

Summer
graduates from Richard Montgomery High School. Lands gig as a piano player/singer at the Hilton Hotel in Myrtle Beach, SC while taking music related courses at Montgomery college.

December 29 - plays gig at The Cellar Door in Washington, D.C.

Ellen works at piano lounge at Sheraton-Carlton hotel in D.C. where she performs her own material as well as old standards. She starts to adopt the name "Tori" after a friend's boyfriend comments that she looks like a Tori.

Tori and her father begin sending home demo tapes to various record companies.

November
flies to San Francisco to record demo tape with producer Narada Michael Walden. Tori doesn't like how her voice is veri-speeded up to sound more girly, and the tapes are shelved.

Tori gets nightly gig at Marbury House in Georgetown.

September 10
Tori leaves home at age 21 and moves to a small apartment behind a church in Hollywood, CA. Within three weeks, forms band which soon falls apart. Starts playing solo in clubs in Hollywood. Earns additional income by doing television commercials (including one for Kellogg's Just Right Cereal).

Tori is raped by an audience member she offered a ride home to after a gig. She refuses to speak of it for six years. Starts buying recording equipment and sets up home studio. Declares that "the girl and her piano are dead."

Forms pop/metal band Y Kant Tori Read which begins recording debut album for Atlantic Records.

Tori does vocal track for opening song in film China O' Brien (credited as Tess Makes Good)

May
Y Kant Tori Read released. Within three weeks, the album flops, and the band folds.

After being humiliated by record executives at a restaurant, Tori strips off the thigh high boots, wipes off the makeup and takes refuge at a friend's house, where she plays her piano for five straight hours. The "girl and her piano" are born again, and she rents her own piano the next day.

does session work on Al Stewart's Last Day's Of The Century album (providing backing vocals and piano)

Tori does background vocals on Sandra Bernhard's cover of Prince's "Little Red Corvette", as well as background vocals on Stan Ridgway's Mosquitos album.

Tori plays the part of an accused murderer in the syndicated television court drama "Trial By Jury". Her character is found not guilty.

Autumn
Atlantic gives Tori one more chance to come up with another record. She begins recording new material in her home studio. After initial rejection by her label boss and another bout of despair, Tori begins a period of self-examination and begins writing songs for herself.

March
Tori turns in tape of songs to Atlantic, which gives the go ahead to start studio recording.

contributes backing vocals to Ferron's Phantom Center album.

Christmas
Atlantic rejects master tape of songs. Infuriated, Tori becomes more determined and begins recording again (with boyfriend Eric Rosse co-producing)

Winter - Tori moves to London and starts playing club dates.

Summer
Sees movie Thelma & Louise and relives rape experience. Writes "Me and a Gun" hours before gig and performs it that night.

Becomes friends with Cindy Palmano (who would do the photography for Tori's first three solo albums) and Neil Gaiman (writer of DC Comic's Sandman)

October - first single, "Me And A Gun", issued in UK on East West label.

January 13
release of Little Earthquakes in UK. debuts at #15 in British charts.

January 29 - Tori begins first world tour in London.

February - album released in U.S.

April 20
first U.S. gig at Bottom Line, New York, where most of live footage for Little Earthquakes home video is recorded.

May - "Crucify" first U.S. single.

Fanzines "Take To The Sky" in U.K. and "Really Deep Thoughts" in U.S. (also Internet mailing list) begin publication.

November
Toys soundtrack featuring Tori's "Happy Workers" written and produced by Trevor Horn.

November 30 - Little Earthquake Tour ends in New Zealand.

Tori moves into hacienda in New Mexico where she begins recording Under The Pink.

meets Trent Reznor and convinces him to sing on "Past The Mission"

November
Neil Gaiman's "Death: The High Cost Of Living" complimation with intro written by Tori released.

January
new single "Cornflake Girl" released in U.K. "God" released in U.S.

January 31
Under The Pink released. Debuts in U.K. charts at #1. Reaches #12 in U.S.

February 24
Under The Pink tour begins in England. Tori takes the upright detuned piano for "Bells For Her" with her on tour along with the Bosendorfer.

During the tour, Tori and Eric Rosse break off their eight year relationship.

June 4
presented Visionary Award by the D.C. Rape Crisis Center. Becomes the founder of R.A.I.N.N. (Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network), a 24 hour toll-free hotline that connects victims with rape crisis centers all across the U.S. (1-800-656-HOPE).

September 6 - Usenet newsgroup rec.music.tori-amos created.

December 13 - Under The Pink tour ends in Australia.

Higher Learning soundtrack featuring Tori's "Butterfly" and cover version of R.E.M's "Losing My Religion".

Records duet with Michael Stipe of R.E.M. titled "It Might Hurt A Bit" for film "Don Juan de Marco" but is rejected by film producers. This track is yet to be released.

Duets with Tom Jones on "I Wanna Get Back With You" on his album The Lead and How to Swing It (also released as single).

Duets with Robert Plant on "Down By The Seaside" for Led Zeppelin tribute album Encomium.

Contributes "Famous Blue Raincoat" for Leonard Cohen tribute album Tower Of Song.

July
starts recording/producing Boys For Pele at a church in Delgany, Ireland.

August
release of "Virtuosity" soundtrack featuring "Party Man" written by Tori and Peter Gabriel - performed by Gabriel.

September - recording continues in County Cork, Ireland.

October - recording concludes in New Orleans, Louisiana.

December
Atlantic Web Site distributes new single "Caught A Lite Sneeze" over the internet.

January 23
Boys For Pele released. Debuts on U.S. charts at #2 and in the U.K. at #1.

February 23
Dew Drop Inn Tour begins in England. The Bosendorfer is joined on stage by the harpsicord and a harmonium (organ). Guitarist Steve Caton (from all three albums & Y Kant Tori Read) plays on stage with Tori on many of the songs on tour.

At some point during the tour, Tori begins relationship with Mark Hawley, one of the sound engineers of the tour and co-engineer on Boys For Pele.

March
"Talula - Tornado Mix" single released with Tori's first extended dance remix by BT as one of the b-side tracks. The Tornado Mix replaces the original version of "Talula" on all further pressings of Boys For Pele.

April 11
records MTV unplugged show and walks off stage halfway thru her performance.

June 19
VH1 Crossroads special exclusively featuring Tori performing cover tunes and "Sugar".

June 25 - first broadcast of Tori's MTV Unplugged.

October - "Blue Skies" single by BT featuring Tori on vocals released.

Near the end of the tour, Tori discovers she is pregnant. She decides to take time off from writing the new album to concentrate on being a mother.

November 11 - Dew Drop Inn tour ends in Boulder, CO.

December 23
at the end of her first trimester, Tori suffers a miscarriage. The baby was a girl.

December 27-29
Toricon 96: the first mass gathering of rec.music.tori-amos in Cincinatti, Ohio.

January 23
Tori performs R.A.I.N.N. Benefit Concert at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York. Portions of the show broadcasted on Lifetime Television the following evening, with a video of the entire concert released in the U.K. and Canada late in the year.

In the painful weeks after the miscarriage, a new set of songs begin to pour in. Tori vacations in "the tropics" where she begins writing the new album.

Autumn
Tori begins recording from the choirgirl hotel in a 300 year old barn converted into a recording studio by Mark Hawley in Cornwall, England. She wants to move on from "the girl and her piano" and records most of the tracks live with other musicians.

January
Great Expectations soundtrack released. New Tori Track "Siren" plus "Finn:Intro" featuring vocalizations by Tori. Tori vocalizations are also featured in the film score ("Finn" and "Paradiso").

February 22
Tori and Mark Hawley are married at St. Lawrance's Church in West Wycombe, England. Reverand Amos gives his daughter away in the ceremony.

April 10
Tori appears on "Late Show with David Letterman" with new touring band (Caton on guitar, Jon Evans on bass, and Matt Chamberlain on drums) and performs "Spark", the new single.

April 13 - "Spark" singles released in U.K.

April 18 - Tori begins three week preview tour of U.S. clubs.

May 5
release of from the choirgirl hotel. Debuts at #5 on U.S. Charts and #6 on U.K. charts.

May 19 - "Plugged '98" Tour starts in England.

November 17
release of home video Tori Amos: The Complete Videos 1991-1998

December 3 - "Plugged '98" Tour ends in East Lansing, MI.

February - Tori featured on PBS "Sessions At West 54th" and VH1 Storytellers.

Intending to work on double CD of live tracks and b-sides, Tori, instead, is inspired to write a brand new collection of songs which are recorded with the touring band in the barn in Cornwall.

June
Tori's vocals featured on the soundtrack of Hands Of Fate composed by Eric Rosse, including the song "Me and You" written by Tori and Eric. The film and soundtrack are yet to be released commercially (slated for Fall 2001).

June 15
Tori track "Merman" on No Boundaries: Benefit for Kosovo Refugees album.

July
Shoe designer Steve Madden debuts the "Tori Amos" shoe, designed to raise funds for the RAINN hotline.

August 18
Tori and Alanis Morissette team up for the "5 1/2 Weeks" Tour, which begins in Ft. Lauderdale, Fl.

August 24
Release of "Bliss" single. Second pre-album-release single "1000 Oceans" is released two weeks later.

September 21
release of to venus and back, Tori's first double CD. One CD (venus orbiting ) features all new studio tracks recorded with her touring band, and the other CD (venus live. still orbiting) features live tracks from the "Plugged '98" tour. It debuts on the US charts at #12 (on the same week The Fragile from Nine Inch Nails debuts at #1).

October 11
"5 1/2 Weeks" Tour ends in Denver, Co. Tori plays the last nine dates of the tour without Alanis.

October 29
Tori begins a small promotional tour in Europe by performing a solo concert (for the first time since the "Under The Pink" tour) at The Royal Festival Hall in London. She plays solo at various tv/radio stations in Europe and the U.S. til December.

May
Release of Mission Impossible 2 soundtrack featuring Tori track "Carnival".

September 5
Tori becomes a mom! She and Mark announce the birth of a daughter, Natashya Lorien, weighing 7 pounds 1 ounce and 21 inches. Neil Gaiman is named the baby's godfather.

Tori begins work on a new album, Strange Little Girls, at Martian Studios, Cornwall, with Matt Chamberlain, Jon Evans, Justin Medal-Johnson, and King Crimson guitarist Adrian Belew. The album is due to be released Sept. 18.

May
New U.S. fanzine, "Little Blue World", begins publication.

June 12
Cleopatra Records releases Songs of a Goddess: A Tribute to Tori Amos featuring Tori songs performed by goth/industrial groups.

Greg Burrell
Scott Kenney
MikeWhy - A Dent In The Tori Amos Universe
"All These Years - The Authorised Biography" by Kalen Rogers
"Tori Amos Collectibles" by Paul Campbell
Q Magazine, May 1998 article by Tom Doyle
VH1's Before They Were Rock Stars III (1998)