Fiona Apple
Controversial, eccentric and undeniably talented, Fiona Apple is unarguably one of the most influential female singer-songwriters of the past decade. Born and raised in a family of artists, Fiona began playing piano and writing songs from an early age. At 16 she moved to New York, where she recorded a demo, which was quickly handed over to a record executive by a mutual friend.
Her debut album Tidal was released on the summer of 1996. The song “Criminal” and its video were soon on heavy rotation on MTV and the video for “Sleep to Dream” won the Best New Artist award at the 1997 Video Music Awards, the speech she gave out remains memorable to these days. She was subject of much criticism from both the media and her colleagues due to her outrageous attitude, her personal life as well as her admitted eating disorders, but the praises for the emotional honesty and maturity of her music mostly overshadowed this.
Her second album, When the pawn… was released on November of 1999. It reached the top 20 in the Billboard Modern Rock charts and spawned three singles, Fast as You Can, Paper Bag and Limp. The album also received a certain amount of attention when it got into the Guinness Book of Records 2 years later, holding the world record for the longest album title. (The entire title is a poem Fiona wrote in response to some negative readers' letters on Spin Magazine “When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts He Thinks Like a King What He Knows Throws the Blows When He Goes to the Fight and He'll Win the Whole Thing 'Fore He Enters the Ring There's No Body to Batter When Your Mind Is Your Might So When You Go Solo, You Hold Your Own Hand and Remember That Depth Is the Greatest of Heights and if You Know Where You Stand, Then You Know Where to Land and if You Fall It Won't Matter, 'Cuz You'll Know That You're Right”)
After years of silence, rumors began spreading in the internet that the release of her new album was being somehow truncated by Sony Music, as they were unhappy with the album. A successful fan-led internet campaign was made to support and encourage the release of the album. Finally, 3 years after its initial recording, Extraordinary Machine was released in 2005; it became her highest charting album and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album.
Songs:
Paper Bag
Parting Gift
Criminal
