Musicheads Essential Artist: Fiona Apple
March 02, 2021
Fiona Apple, a gifted vocalist with a singular voice and an experimental spirit, is a Musicheads Essential Artist.
Fiona Apple was born in New York City in 1977. Her family consisted largely of artists, so you could say that creative talent is in her blood. Apple began composing her own songs when she was eight years old, Classically trained on piano, she was also influenced by artists including Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald.
In 1996, Apple released her debut album Tidal, which was written when she was 17 years old and was largely inspired by her breakup with her first boyfriend. The album sold 2.7 million copies and received a Grammy award for its third single, "Criminal."
She followed with the release of 1999's When the Pawn..., which also went platinum. The album's lead single, "Fast as You Can," went Top 40 in the U.K., confirming that Apple was a rising star on both sides of the Atlantic. Apple went on to release Extraordinary Machine in 2005 and The Idler Wheel... in 2012, both of which received critical praise and Grammy nominations.
After not having released music for eight years, Apple released her fifth studio album, Fetch the Bolt Cutters, in 2020. After putting over five years of work into the record, Apple was met with widespread acclaim for her experimental sound and use of non-conventional percussion and industrial rhythms. The extraordinary comeback album was widely hailed as the best of her career, earning multiple Grammy nominations and even a perfect 10.0 score from Pitchfork, the first they had issued in over a decade.
After selling over 15 million records worldwide, Apple has stayed consistent in creating music that is sometimes challenging, never boring, and always fascinating.