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The Plain Dealer (US)
Cleveland, Ohio, newspaper
Thursday, February 24, 2005

Writing book inspires Tori Amos' new album

Gary Graff
Special to The Plain Dealer

Since 1992's "Little Earthquakes," Tori Amos has been one of pop's most ambitious performers and songwriters. But this year she's outdone herself.

She published a book this month, "Piece By Piece," co-written with music journalist Ann Powers. This week, Amos released her ninth album, "The Beekeeper" (Epic) - and she acknowledges that some of the folks around her were worried that she was stretching herself thin.

"A lot of my comrades were worried, but I told them that they don't need to worry that I'm writing a book; that doesn't mean I'm going to fluff off writing music," Amos says. "On the contrary, I think I appreciated being a musician more than I ever have, except when I played bars and people would spill gin and tonics all over my piano."

Because the book was a new experience, Amos says working on "The Beekeeper" mitigated some of her first-time author frustrations. "Music is my first language, not English," Amos says. "When I got tired of writing the book and a little fed up with it, I would run to the music. The music was sort of my escape from this book, and I was so happy to do it."

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