Tori In the Montgomery Journal March 31, 1977 Added June 11, 1997

The photo and the following description comes from Richard Handal.

The large photo is below and will take a while to load!

The official biography of Tori mentions that she won a local talent contest in March of 1977. Tori's dad once told me that she had been featured in several local publications when she was quite young. As I live in the area in which Tori mainly grew up, I couldn't help but go to the library and slog through microfilm of a couple local newspapers for March of 1977. These publications don't have many pages, so it didn't take much time at all before I was staring at this photo of Tori (then Ellen) in the Montgomery Journal!

The microfilm and printer combination at this particular library wasn't the best quality, so I sought out a better version of the publication and came up with a fairly decent photocopy--especially considering the thing was in the paper over twenty years ago. I hope everyone in online Toriville enjoys it!

Publication title: Montgomery Journal ISSN: 1044-2421
Date of publication: March 31, 1977 Page number A9
Photos: Linda White

Caption headline: Top Teens In Talent Test

Caption text (with original typos and flawed punctuation intact): THE GIRL at the piano is 13-year-old Ellen Amos, first place winner in the 13th Annual Teen Talent Contest sponsored by the Montgomery County Recreation Department and the Kensington - Wheaton Jaycees. Ellen not only plays and sings, she is a talented composer. In fact, she wrote the song that she performed. Second place winner at last Saturday's competition was Barbara Hackett, shown at right putting body and soul into her oral reading from "The Member of the Wedding". Barbara played both 13 year old Frankie and the family cook Berniece. Ellen and Barbara won $100 and $50 bonds respectively.

To see the Tori portion at 150%, click here or on the photo below!

Tori was quoted in the May 1998 Q article as saying--

On March 31, 1977 in an edition of The Montgomery Journal, the first published photograph of the 13-year-old Myra Ellen Amos in mid-song, seated at a small piano, appeared above the headline "Top Teens In Talent Test". She scooped first prize in this local competition, winning $100 ("I played by own song that night, something called More Than Just A Friend").

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