Fiona Apple

Fiona Apple McAfee Maggart (born September 13, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter. She is best known as Fiona Apple.

Early life

Apple is a member of a family rich with roots in entertainment. Born in New York City, she is the daughter of singer Diane McAfee and actor Brandon Maggart. Her older sister, Amber Taleullah, sings cabaret under the stage name Maude Maggart. Her 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.

At the age of twelve, Apple was raped upon returning home from school to her mother's apartment. The rape is mentioned subtly in some of her work (as in the song "Sullen Girl"), but is not necessarily a major theme. While the media latched onto the story of Apple's dark past experience, the singer said the only reason she even mentioned the rape to an interviewer was because she didn't want it to seem like something of which she should be ashamed. There was a rumor that she had called Tori Amos the "poster girl for rape", but this was taken out of context from an interview in which she referenced Amos's song "Me and a Gun" and talked about the song's strong message for those who have experienced rape.

As a child, there was concern she had anti-social tendencies, as well as obsessive-compulsive disorder. She underwent therapy as a child after telling a childhood friend that she was going to kill herself as well as her older sister Amber when she was twelve years old.^[1] This prompted several therapy sessions, which ultimately led her to believe that there must actually be something wrong with her if she required therapy.

Career

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 contralto voice, piano skills and lyrics got the attention of Sony Music executive Andy Slater, who signed her to a record deal.

Tidal: 1995–1998

Main article: Tidal (album)

In 1996 Apple's debut album, Tidal, was released by a subsidiary of Sony. The album went on to sell 2.7 million copies[1] and was certified three times platinum in the U.S. "Criminal," the third single, became Apple's breakthrough hit. The song reached the top forty on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and garnered a great deal of attention, mostly due to its controversial Mark Romanek-directed music video. While manager Slater says he considered the clip a "tribute to [director Gregg] Araki and [photographer] Nan Goldin", some interpreted it as a "sex tease". Years later Apple said: "The shit that got me popular was the stuff that I was not proud of ... I wanted to be like every other girl you see in videos, and that's why it's embarrassing. But the way that I justified [the treatment] is that the song is about someone talking to God about a mistake they've been making ... But I think the thing that screwed it up is how fuckin' horrified I look". Years later, she said that the video fit with the song and that it was "beautiful."

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, with host Chris Rock making a derisive comment about her speech.

Some considered her remarks hypocritical, seeing a contradiction between her appearance 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 did a bit about Apple's emaciated looks. 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 and felt it was hypocritical of Garofalo to make fun of Apple's weight. 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...: 1999–2001

Main article: When the Pawn...

In 1999 Apple's second album, When the Pawn..., was released. Its full title is 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'll Know Where to Land and If You Fall It Won't Matter, Cuz You Know That You're Right. The title is a poem Apple wrote after reading the readers' letters that appeared in Spin after an article had cast her in a negative light in an earlier issue.^[2] The title's length earned it a spot in the Guinness Book of Records.

The album was cultivated during Apple's relationship with film director Paul Thomas Anderson. When the Pawn... received a positive reception from publications such as The New York Times and Rolling Stone, but some music journalists immediately dismissed the album. A review in the aforementioned Spin magazine quoted the title, and then underneath said "Whoops. Now we don't have room for a review. One star".

When the Pawn... used more expressive lyrics, experimented more with drum loops, and incorporated Chamberlin. It did not fare as well commercially as her debut, though it was an RIAA-certified platinum-selling release and sold 917,000 copies in the U.S.[2] The album's lead single, "Fast as You Can", reached the top twenty on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart and became Apple's first top forty hit in the UK. The videos for two follow-up singles, "Paper Bag" and "Limp" (directed by then-boyfriend Anderson), received very little play. Some critics felt the album's lyrics were often difficult to decipher, due to the archaic and creative wording.

In 2000, at a concert at the Roseland Ballroom in New York, Apple became dissatisfied with the venue's sound and broke down on stage, berating music critics and the audience with vulgar language, before ending her set early and storming off stage.^[3][4]

Extraordinary Machine: 2002–2006

Main article: Extraordinary Machine

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.

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 via the DMCA copyright law, 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.

In August 2005 the album was given a release date for October. Production had been completed by Mike Elizondo (though known for his work with hip-hop artists such as Dr. Dre, he had previously played bass for Apple on Pawn) and co-produced by electronica experimentalist Brian Kehew. Spin later reported: "Fans erroneously thought that Apple's record label, Epic, had rejected the first version of Extraordinary Machine... in reality, according to Elizondo, Apple was unhappy with the results, and it was her decision to redo the record, not her label's". Two of the eleven previous leaked tracks were relatively unchanged, nine were completely retooled, and one new song was also included. According to Elizondo, "Everything was done from scratch".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. Fiona Apple's video for "O' Sailor" was shot on the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California.

It was revealed in late 2005 that Sony was initially unhappy with the work, and Apple and Brion sought to rework the album. Sony reportedly made caveats on the process, to which Apple balked. After a long period of waiting, she began an attempt to rework the album with close friend Kehew (also a friend and former roommate of Jon Brion). Elizondo was brought back as co-producer to complete the tracks he had begun with Brion and Apple. Despite suggestions that the album had caused a rift between Brion and Apple, they regularly perform together at Largo, a club in Los Angeles, including a joint appearance with Elizondo on bass just before the news broke of an official release.

Apple went on a live tour to promote the album in late 2005, and from early 2006 supported Coldplay on their tour of North America. 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 which features Apple singing lines such as "Baby, show me your fanny pack/I'll show you my fanny". 1

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 Decades Rock Live by performing Costello's hit "I Want You";^[5] her version was subsequently released as a digital single.

Personal life

Apple is a vegan and supporter of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). In 1997 she recorded a message on PETA's hotline expressing her concern for the plight of turkeys on Thanksgiving. In reference to a Butterball Turkey hotline people could call to get tips on cooking their turkeys, she claimed, "There's no proper way to kill and cook these beautiful birds". She continued, "Millions of people are learning that a vegetarian diet is the healthy choice for themselves, the Earth and the animals". This stance inspired the Saturday Night Live spoof "Basted in Blood", written and performed by Sarah McLachlan.

Apple has dated magician David Blaine and film director Paul Thomas Anderson.

Discography

Albums

Charting singles

Other recordings

• "Use Me" (Bill Withers) - Live version from Bad Girl, an Apple bootleg recorded at the Phoenix Concert Theater in Ontario (1997)
• "Angel" (Jimi Hendrix) - live version from Bad Girl
• "Sitting in Limbo" (Jimmy Cliff) - live version from Bad Girl
• "Across the Universe" (Lennon/McCartney) - Soundtrack to the Motion Picture Pleasantville (1998, Sony), lead vocalist
• "Please Send Me Someone to Love" (Percy Mayfield) - Soundtrack to the Motion Picture Pleasantville (1998, Sony), lead vocalist
• "Never Is a Promise" - live version from Y100 Sonic Sessions Volume 2 (1998)
• "Bridge over Troubled Water" (Paul Simon) - duet with Johnny Cash from American IV: The Man Comes Around (2002)
• "Father and Son" (Cat Stevens) - duet with Johnny Cash from Unearthed (2003)
• "Frosty the Snowman" - from Christmas Calling (2003)
• "I Want You" (Elvis Costello) - live version from VH1's Live for Decades Rock Live!, released as an iTunes single (2006)
• "Sally's Song" (Danny Elfman) - from Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas Special Edition Soundtrack (2006)

Awards and nominations

1997

• MTV Video Music Award for "Best New Artist" for "Sleep to Dream" (won).

1998

• MTV Video Music Award for "Best Cinematography" for "Criminal" (won — shared with Harris Svides).
• MTV Video Music Award for "Best Female Video" for "Criminal" (nominated).
• Grammy Award for "Best Female Rock Vocal Performance" for "Criminal" (won).
• Grammy Award for "Best New Artist" (nominated).
• Grammy Award for "Best Rock Song" for "Criminal" (nominated).

2000

California Area Music Award for Best Female Vocalist (When the Pawn...)

2001

• Grammy Awards for "Best Female Rock Vocal Performance" for "Paper Bag" (nominated), and "Best Alternative Music Album" for When the Pawn (nominated).

2003

• Grammy Award for "Best Country Collaboration with Vocals" for "Bridge over Troubled Water" (nominated — shared with Johnny Cash).

2006

• Grammy Award for "Best Pop Vocal Album" for Extraordinary Machine (nominated).
• New Pantheon Award for Extraordinary Machine (nominated).
• mtvU Woodie Award for "Alumni Award" for Extraordinary Machine (nominated).

References

• Cohen, Jonathan. "Fiona Apple fashions a different 'Machine'", Billboard magazine, August 15, 2005.
• "Fiona Apple's Machine Finally Turned On". Spin. August 15, 2005.
• Luck, Otto. "Fiona Apple Suffers for Her Sins (and So Do We)". NY Rock. November 1997. Retrieved September 23, 2005.

1. ^ Fiona Apple: The Caged Bird Sings
2. ^ iTunes Originals Interview, 2006
3. ^ Sasha Frere Jones. "Extraordinary Machines: Fiona Apple's new album", The New Yorker, 2005-10-10. Retrieved on August 5, 2006.
4. ^ "Worst Onstage Meltdowns", Blender magazine, August 2006. Retrieved on July 19, 2006.
5. ^ Decades Rock Live

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