Fiona Apple

Fiona Apple biography

Fiona Apple McAfee Maggart (born September 13, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. Apple met international acclaim for her 1996 debut album, Tidal, which was a critical and commercial success. At the age of nineteen she received a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for the single "Criminal" from that album in 1998.

After Tidal, Apple released the critically acclaimed, though less commercially successful albums, When the Pawn... (1999) and Extraordinary Machine (2005). A perceived shelving of Extraordinary Machine was met with vocal protests from her fans, who campaigned against her record label in 2005. Apple's musical style contains elements of jazz and alternative rock.

Early life and family

Born in New York City, Apple is the daughter of singer Diane McAfee and actor Brandon Maggart. Her older sister, Amber, sings cabaret under the stage name Maude Maggart. Her half brother Spencer is a director and directed the video for her single "Parting Gift." Her half brother Garett Maggart starred in the TV series The Sentinel. In addition, her maternal grandparents were Millicent Green, a dancer with the George White's Scandals, a series of 1920s musical revues similar to the Ziegfeld Follies, and Johnny McAfee, a multireedist and vocalist of the big band era; her grandparents met while touring with Johnny Hamp and his orchestra. Apple was raped at the age of twelve, a trauma she would later allude to in songs such as "Sullen Girl."

Career

1994–1998: Career beginnings and Tidal

Apple was introduced to the music industry in 1994, when she gave a demo tape containing the songs "Never Is a Promise," "Not One of Those Times," and "He Takes a Taxi" to her friend who was the babysitter of music publicist Kathryn Schenker. Schenker then passed the tape along to Sony Music executive Andy Slater. Apple's contralto voice, piano skills and lyrics captured his attention, and Slater signed her to a record deal.

In 1996, Apple's debut album, Tidal, was released by Work. The album sold 2.7 million copies and was certified three times platinum in the U.S. "Criminal," the third single, became a hit and the song reached the top forty on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The song's controversial Mark Romanek-directed music video — in which a scantily clad Apple appeared in a 1970s-era tract house — played on MTV. Apple later said: "I decided if I was going to be exploited, then I would do the exploiting myself." Other singles from Tidal included "Shadowboxer," "Sleep to Dream," and "Never Is a Promise." In 1997, while accepting MTV Video Music Award for "Best New Artist" for her song Sleep to Dream, Apple said: "This world is bullshit, and you shouldn't model your life on what we think is cool, and what we're wearing and what we're saying." The New Yorker and NYRock characterized her MTV award show speech as ungrateful and "ridiculous."

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