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| Birth Name(s) : Fiona Apple Maggart |
Date of Birth: September 13, 1977 |
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| Profession:
Musician |
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Full Fiona Apple Biography
| Fiona Apple was diagnosed by her teachers as anti-social at age 11 and underwent psychotherapy. Her bumpy childhood included sexual assault at age 12 and she has still managed to overcome everything and emerge as a leading singer/songwriter in her musical genre. She made a demo tape in high school that found its' way to a friend who supervised the children of a music industry executive. The executive played the tape for producer Andrew Salter who immediately requested a meeting with Fiona. The rest, as they say, is history... |
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Additional Fiona Apple Biography
Apple's break into the music industry came when a friend, who babysat for a record executive, handed her employer a demo. Apple's rich alto voice, piano skills and lyrics got the attention of Sony Music executive Andy Slater, who signed her to a record deal.
Other singles from Tidal included "Shadowboxer", "Slow like Honey", "Sleep to Dream", "The First Taste" and "Never Is a Promise". After a series of fiery public appearances, Apple's public image began to suffer in some circles. Most notoriously, while accepting the 1997 MTV Video Music Award for "Best New Artist", she proclaimed: "This world is bullshit, and you shouldn't model your life on what you think that we think is cool, and what we're wearing and what we're saying", referring to the mainstream music industry. She quoted Maya Angelou: "Go with yourself". Though her comments were generally greeted with cheers and applause at the awards ceremony, the media backlash was immediate.
Some considered her remarks hypocritical, seeing a contradiction between her appearing in a risqué music video in only her underwear, and her telling young women to ignore celebrity culture. She was unapologetic, however: "When I have something to say, I'll fuckin' well say it". Stand-up comedian Denis Leary included a satire of this speech on his album, Lock 'n Load, titled "A Reading from the Book of Apple". Janeane Garofalo parodied Apple's comments in light of the fact that her video reinforces the very celebrity fixation on weight and appearance that Apple condemned. Apple, who admitted she was a fan of Garofalo's, was angry about this, mainly because Garofalo had talked about her struggles with her own weight. Apple seemed to misunderstand the nature of Garofalo's satire, feeling the bit was a cheap shot at her emaciated appearance. Garofalo reportedly replied, "It's comedy. Deal with it".
During this period Apple contributed covers of The Beatles' "Across the Universe" and Percy Mayfield's "Please Send Me Someone to Love" to the soundtrack of the film Pleasantville.
When the Pawn... used more expressive lyrics, experimented more with drum loops, and incorporated some Chamberlin. It did not fare as well commercially as her debut, though it was a platinum RIAA-certified platinum album-selling release and sold 1 million copies in the U.S. The album's lead single, "Fast as You Can", reached the top 20 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart and became Apple's first Top 40 hit in the UK. The videos for two follow-up singles, "Paper Bag" and "Limp" (directed by then-boyfriend Anderson), received very little play.
Apple sang with Johnny Cash on a cover of Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge over Troubled Water" that ended up on Cash's album American IV: The Man Comes Around and was nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best Country Collaboration with Vocals". She also collaborated with him on Cat Stevens's "Father and Son", which was included on Cash's 2003 collection Unearthed.Free Fiona campaigners outside the NYC headquarters of Sony BMG Music Entertainment in January 2005.
Apple's third album, Extraordinary Machine, which was produced by Jon Brion, was submitted to Sony executives in May 2003. Sony was reportedly unenthusiastic about the finished product, and the project was shelved for over two years. In 2004 and 2005 tracks were leaked on the Internet in MP3 format and played on U.S. and international radio; subsequently, MP3s of the entire album, believed to have been produced by Brion (although he later claimed the leaked tracks were "tweaked" beyond his own work), went online. Although a website distributing the album was quickly taken offline, they soon reached P2P networks and were downloaded by fans. A fan-led campaign, Free Fiona, was launched in support of the album's official release.
Extraordinary Machine became the highest-charting album of Apple's career in the U.S. on its release (debuting at number seven) and was nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best Pop Vocal Album". It was eventually certified gold and sold 462,000 copies in the U.S., though its singles ("Parting Gift", "O' Sailor", "Not About Love" and "Get Him Back") failed to enter any Billboard charts.
In June 2006 Apple appeared on the joke track "Come over and Get It (Up in 'Dem Guts)" by comedian Zach Galifianakis. Galifianakis previously appeared in the music video for Apple's "Not About Love". The joke track is a complete departure from Apple's previous work, both lyrically and musically. It is a hip-hop/rap/dance track that features Apple singing lines such as "Baby, show me your fanny pack/I'll show you my fanny".
Apple recorded a cover of "Sally's Song" for the special edition release of the soundtrack, released in 2006, for the Tim Burton-produced film The Nightmare Before Christmas. In May 2006 Apple paid tribute to Elvis Costello on VH1's concert series Decades Rock Live by performing Costello's hit "I Want You"; her version was subsequently released as a digital single.
Singles: "Shadowboxer" · "Slow like Honey" · "Sleep to Dream" · "The First Taste" · "Criminal" · "Never Is a Promise" · "Fast as You Can" · "Limp" · "Paper Bag" · "Parting Gift" · "O' Sailor" · "Not About Love" · "Get Him Back" |
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| The quick success was a bit strange to get used to. |
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