Fiona Apple

A classically trained pianist from a very early age, Fiona Apple began composing her own music at the age of 8, and before long she was writing her own songs. She poured her traumatic teenage years into her song-writing and by the time she was seventeen she'd made her first demo tape. When she heard that a friend of hers was babysitting for the music publicist Kathryn Schenker, she gave that demo tape to her friend to give to Schenker. Against all probability, Schenker was so impressed with what she heard that she passed it along to Andy Slater, an executive at Sony Music, who signed her to Columbia Records within months of her making the tape. Wisely, Apple spent the next two years honing her craft before releasing anything, and it's safe to say that the move paid off, as her debut album “Tidal”, was certified three times Platinum mere months after its release in July 1996.

Despite having the kind of record sales that most bands would kill for, the kind of mainstream success that fell into Apple's lap made her deeply uncomfortable. She wouldn't release another album until 1999 with “When The Pawn...”, an album whose title went straight into the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest album title ever (seriously, Google it). While the album was still a huge, Platinum certified hit, it didn't equal the success of “Tidal” and Apple was still reacting very badly to the public spotlight, culminating with an on-stage meltdown in New York City's Roseland Ballroom in February 2000. After finishing her touring commitments for the year, Apple moved from New York to Los Angeles, and spent the next two years on hiatus, which suited her so much that she had to be begged into make a new album by her longtime friend and producer Jon Brion.

She finally acquiesced and released her third album “Extraordinary Machine” in 2005. Ever since then, she's remained an artist in the truest sense of the word, never one to be hurried or have her artistic vision clouded by anyone else's input. With four stellar albums to her name and the kind of live show that any solo artist would kill for, Fiona Apple comes highly recommended.