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Enya (born Eithne Patricia Ní Bhraonáin on 17 May 1961, Gweedore, County Donegal, sometimes presented in the media as Enya Brennan) is an Irish singer, instrumentalist and composer. She began her musical career in 1980, when she briefly joined her family band Clannad, before leaving to pursue her solo career. Her album Watermark, which was released in 1988, propelled her to international recognition and Enya became known for her unique sound, which was characterized by voice-layering, folk melodies, synthesized backdrops and ethereal reverberations.
She continued to enjoy steady success during the 1990s and 2000s; her 2000 album A Day Without Rain achieved tremendous record sales (15 million) and she was named the world's biggest selling female artist of 2001.
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Quotations
I'm not one for walking the beaches humming a melody ... I love the discipline of sitting in the studio, writing and listening. That is my domain.
They are as much Enya as I am.
I think they find it — they find me quite confusing, because — they know the music, but they don't know anything about me ... because I keep a very private lifestyle so they end up ... making up stories as such. But I don't really concern myself too much about them.
On the music press
I get very inspired by traveling, by being home in Donegal ... all those wonderful moments I'll take with me to the studio. And they, ah, then become at some stage, a melody. That emotion that I loved at some stage will evolve as a melody.
For me, I've derived from religion ... what... I enjoy ... and it's to go to church, but usually ... when there's nobody else there. I just love that moment, ah, to just sit there. It's very peaceful, very calm, and very therapeutic, and it's ... wonderful.
Regardless of how I live my life, there are people who develop fixations that are not healthy. It could be a visual thing, or it could be the music that they are drawn to. These people need help.
Encyclopedia
Enya (born Eithne Patricia Ní Bhraonáin on 17 May 1961, Gweedore, County Donegal, sometimes presented in the media as Enya Brennan) is an Irish singer, instrumentalist and composer. She began her musical career in 1980, when she briefly joined her family band Clannad, before leaving to pursue her solo career. Her album Watermark, which was released in 1988, propelled her to international recognition and Enya became known for her unique sound, which was characterized by voice-layering, folk melodies, synthesized backdrops and ethereal reverberations.
She continued to enjoy steady success during the 1990s and 2000s; her 2000 album A Day Without Rain achieved tremendous record sales (15 million) and she was named the world's biggest selling female artist of 2001. She is Ireland's best-selling solo artist and is officially the country's second biggest musical export after the band U2. Her record sales stand at 77 million as of 2009. Her work has earned her, among other things, an Academy Award nomination and she is known for performing in ten different languages during her career thus far. Enya is an approximate transcription of how Eithne is pronounced in her native Irish, in the Donegal dialect.
Biography
Musical upbringing and Clannad
Enya was born in Gaoth Dobhair, County Donegal, Ireland in 1961 to a musical family, the sixth of nine children. Her grandparents were in a band that played throughout Ireland, her father was the leader of the Slieve Foy Band before opening a pub, and her mother played in a dance band and later taught music at the Pobalscoil Ghaoth Dobhair. Enya attended Loreto Community School Milford Co. Donegal. Enya has four brothers and four sisters, several of whom formed the band An Clann As Dobhar in 1968. They renamed the band Clannad in the 1970s.
In 1980, Enya worked with Clannad, the band composed of her siblings Máire (Moya), Pól, and Ciarán and twin uncles Noel and Padraig Duggan. Enya played the keyboard and provided backing vocals on their album Crann Úll (1980), although she was not officially a member of the group until the 1981 release Fuaim, when she appeared on the cover. In 1982, shortly before Clannad became famous for "Theme From Harry's Game," producer and manager Nicky Ryan left the group and Enya joined him to start her own solo career. Enya then formed her own recording studio, named "Aigle", which is French for "Eagle".
Solo career
Enya recorded two solo instrumental pieces called "An Gaoth Ón Ghrian" ("The Solar Wind") and "Miss Clare Remembers" that were released on the 1983 album Touch Travel. She was first credited as Enya (as opposed to Eithne) for writing some of the music for the 1984 movie The Frog Prince, which was released on a soundtrack album of the same title. Another early appearance on record followed in 1987, where Enya provided spoken (not sung) vocals on Sinéad O'Connor's debut album, The Lion and the Cobra. The title of the album is a partial English translation of Enya's Gaelic reading of Psalms 91:13 (KJV: "Thou shalt tread on the lion and the adder . .") in the song "Never Get Old".
Enya was contracted to provide music for the soundtrack of the 1986 BBC television documentary The Celts. The music she produced was featured on her first solo album, Enya (1987), but it attracted little attention at the time. The B-Side single "Eclipse" is actually a reversed and modified version of Enya's song "Deireadh An Tuath", from this 1987 album Enya. The song "Boadicea", also from this album, would later be sampled by The Fugees on their single "Ready or Not" (1996), causing a brief stir because the group neither sought permission from Enya nor gave her credit initially, and by Mario Winans, who did give her credit (the Winans track, "I Don't Wanna Know" which features a rap by P. Diddy and is officially credited to all three artists, became Enya's highest charting single in the US, when it peaked at #2 on the Hot 100 in 2004).
International breakthrough
Enya achieved a breakthrough in her career in 1988 with the album Watermark, which featured the hit song "Orinoco Flow" (sometimes known as "Sail Away"). "Orinoco Flow", featuring Jay Tyree, reported to be named after Orinoco Studios (now Miloco Studios), where it was conceived (although one of the longest rivers in South America is the Orinoco River, which might be the true origin of its name), topped the charts in the United Kingdom, peaked at number 2 in Germany and the Watermark album sold eight million copies.
Three years later, she followed with another hit album, Shepherd Moons, which sold ten million copies and earned Enya her first Grammy Award. The songs "On Your Shore" and "Exile" (from Watermark) and "Epona" (from Enya) were featured in the 1991 film L.A. Story. "Ebudae" was also featured on the soundtrack to the Robin Williams film Toys, while the 1990 film Green Card had "River", "Watermark", and "Storms In Africa". "Book Of Days" was featured prominently in the movie Far and Away, with an English-lyric version created for the film then replacing the old Gaelic-language version on all pressings of the Shepherd Moons album from 1993 onwards. In 1993, her recording of "Marble Halls" from Shepherd Moons was featured in the Martin Scorsese film, The Age of Innocence.
In 1992, a re-mastered version of the Enya album was released as The Celts including a longer, modified version of "Portrait", which was re-named as "Portrait (Out of the Blue)". Four years after Shepherd Moons, she released the Grammy-winning The Memory of Trees (1995), another Top Five success in both the UK and Germany, as well as her first Top 10 album in the US. Singles released from the album were "Anywhere Is" and "On My Way Home".
In 1997, Enya released her greatest hits collection, Paint The Sky With Stars: The Best of Enya, again a Top Five smash in the UK and Germany, which featured two new songs: "Paint the Sky With Stars" and "Only If..."; "Only If..." later became a single. ("Only If You Want To", is an early version of "Only If...". It appears on a promotional Japanese CD called, The Best of Enya, and does not include the French lyrics.) She was offered the chance to compose the score for James Cameron's 1997 film Titanic, but declined. The eventual choice of Norwegian vocalist Sissel Kyrkjebø, whose style is similar to Enya's, resulted in work that some sources erroneously credited to Enya, although in interviews, the songs were officially credited as the sound of Clannad. A 1989 recording of Enya singing an Irish Language version of "Silent Night" ("Oíche Chiúin") has been reissued many times over the years, including The Christmas EP (which otherwise contained several non-holiday related previously issued recordings by Enya) and the 1997 edition of the charity album A Very Special Christmas.
Ansett Australia extensively used 'Storms in Africa' for promotional purposes when the airline re-branded itself in the 1990s. The advertisements featuring portions of the song can be found on YouTube.
The 1992 film 'Sleepwalkers' features "Boadicea" as the film's signature tune.
Return and A Day Without Rain
Following a five-year break, Enya released the Grammy winning album A Day Without Rain in 2000, featuring 37 minutes of new material (34 minutes on the US version). The album is Enya's most successful to date, peaking at #2 on the US Billboard Album charts. The first single, Only Time, was used in the film Sweet November and received US radio airplay in late 2000. In May 2001, NBC began using "Only Time" to accompany commercials for their television series Friends, which helped the song get airplay on top-40 radio. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, "Only Time" was used as a soundtrack in many radio and television reports about the attacks. Enya initially disapproved of this use, especially when bootlegged versions of "Only Time", mixed with sound effects from the attacks, were produced.
Enya eventually released a special edition of the song, and a maxi single was issued on 20 November 2001 featuring a pop mix, with proceeds donated to the families of victims. Only Time peaked at #10 on the US Hot 100, #12 on the Pop Chart and hit #1 on the Adult Contemporary and Hot Adult Contemporary charts. In Germany, Only time re-entered the German single charts at number 1 and the album A Day Without Rain reached Number One some weeks later.
Enya won the Echo Award for best selling international single in Germany of 2001, and received a nomination for best selling album.
In 2001, Enya recorded May It Be, which featured in the first installment of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, Fellowship of the Ring, and was her second consecutive single to enter the German charts at number 1. The video features scenes from the Oscar-nominated Peter Jackson film.
Enya, self-admittedly, composes music slowly. A new song called "Sumiregusa" ("Wild Violet") was based around a Japanese poem by Roma Ryan. In September 2004, the song was used in Japan as part of an advertising campaign for Panasonic. Warner Music Japan stated that Enya's next album was scheduled for release in Japan in mid-November. Enya issued a press release on her official Web site on 19 September stating that this was a mistake and no new album was immediately forthcoming.
Amarantine to And Winter Came
In November 2005, a new album, entitled Amarantine, was released. It reached the Top 10 in both the UK and the US, and peaked at number 3 in Germany. The album won the Grammy Award for Best New Age Album for 2007, Enya's fourth.
In 2006, Enya released several Christmas-themed CDs with newly recorded material. On 10 October 2006, Sounds of the Season: The Enya Holiday Collection was released containing six songs: the previously released "Oíche Chiúin" (a.k.a. "Silent Night") and "Amid the Falling Snow", new recordings of the standards "Adeste Fideles" (a.k.a. "Oh Come All Ye Faithful") and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" as well as two original songs, "Christmas Secrets" and "The Magic of the Night". This CD was released only in the United States in an exclusive partnership with the NBC television network and the Target department store chain. Enya was awarded the World's Best-Selling Irish Act award at the World Music Awards in London on 19 November 2006.
In late November, two new editions of Amarantine were released. In the UK it was reissued as Amarantine - Special Christmas Edition with a second disc containing the four new Christmas songs previously issued on Sounds of the Season (the original album already had "Amid the Falling Snow" while "Oíche Chiúin" is a recording dating back to 1988, which had already been featured on numerous collections). The US received a special version of this release (Amarantine - Deluxe Collector's Edition), which also included three postcards and a copy of Roma Ryan's book Water Shows the Hidden Heart, which is referenced on the original album. Canadian fans could choose from the Special Christmas Edition of Amarantine or an EP entitled Christmas Secrets, which contained only the four new songs.
Coinciding with these releases was the re-launch of Enya's official website on 2 November 2006. On 16 November 2006, Enya mentioned on ITV1's that she was working on a new album. A month later, in a Japanese interview Enya said that the album would be a complete Christmas album and would be released in 2007 which led to widespread fan speculation, such as on the official enya.com forum; ultimately, no release occurred at that time.
By mid-2007, Enya claimed to have sold 70 million albums. An American businessperson has coined the phrase "enyanomics" to explain Enya's ability to sell millions of records without giving any live performances.
On 29 June 2007, Enya received an honorary doctorate from the National University of Ireland, Galway. Shortly after, on 10 July 2007, (date also stated at Enya's official website under News) Enya received a second honorary doctorate from the University of Ulster.
On 1 September 2008, Enya's website launched "The Loxian Games." The competition is a way for fans of Enya to win four grand prizes, which have yet to be revealed. Thirty more prizes will be awarded to runners-up. In past Enya.com Online Competitions, winners were awarded autographed Enya albums. The launch of "The Loxian Games" and a brand new website have recently come out.
In 7 November 2008, Enya's new album, And Winter Came..., was released. The album is a Christmas and Winter themed album.
On 29 September 2008, the BBC Radio 2 show Wake up to Wogan was given the world exclusive and aired the new song Trains and Winter Rains, which will also be Enya's first new studio single accompanying her new album.
Musical style and other projects
Much of her music shows influence of Irish music and classical music.
As a musical group, Enya represents a partnership between three people: Enya herself, who composes and performs the music; Nicky Ryan, who produces the albums; and Roma Ryan, who writes the lyrics in various languages. Enya performs all percussion, instruments, and vocals in her pieces unless specified. Although there are certain pieces where acoustic instruments are featured, almost all sounds of her pieces are created by a synthesizer, specifically the Roland D-50. Her trademark sound is achieved by layering her voice as much as 80 times. She has stated in an interview that she has once dubbed her voice to about 500 times. The vocals are each performed individually, and are layered together to form a virtual choir, although all the voices are Enya herself. In "Cursum Perficio" of the album Watermark, Enya reaches a C an octave below middle C. Later in the piece, she sings a high A-flat above the treble clef. She is described as a mezzo-soprano.
On the album Amarantine, Enya sings in Japanese and Loxian, a language invented by Roma Ryan. While most of her songs are sung in English, some of Enya's songs are sung entirely in Irish or Latin. Enya has also sung songs written entirely or partially in Welsh, Spanish, French, and even languages created by J. R. R. Tolkien. Enya has performed songs relating to J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, including 1991's "Lothlórien" (instrumental), 2001's "May It Be" (sung in English and Quenya), and "Aníron" (in Sindarin)—the last two, which she composed, appearing on the soundtrack of Peter Jackson's movie The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
Enya has given several live performances on various television shows, events and ceremonies (her most recent appearance was in Gaoth Dobhair in the summer of 2005, which coincided with a tribute event to the Brennan family that took place in Letterkenny), but she has yet to do a concert. She has said, though, that she would love to do it someday, and would consider it a great challenge.
Although her Grammys were for "Best New Age Album", Enya does not personally classify her music as belonging to the New Age genre. When asked what genre she would classify her music as belonging to, she would reply, "Enya".
Selected discography
- For a full listing of albums, singles and chart positions see Enya discography.
Albums
- Enya (1987) 2.85m sales, later re-issued as The Celts
- Watermark US#25 UK#5 (1988) 11m sales
- Shepherd Moons US#17 UK#1 (1991) 12m sales
- The Celts (1992) 6.7m sales
- The Memory of Trees US#9 (1995) 10m sales
- Paint the Sky with Stars US#30 UK#4 (1997) 10.5m sales
- A Day Without Rain US#2 UK#6 (2000) 15m sales
- Amarantine US#6 UK#8 (2005; expanded edition released 2006) 6.2m sales
- And Winter Came... US#8 UK#6 (2008) 2.0m sales
DVD releases
In 2000, Warner Music released Enya: The Video Collection on DVD in Europe, South Africa and Asia, collecting all her videos from "Orinoco Flow" up to and including "Wild Child", except for the video from "Book of Days", which was replaced by a live TV performance due to licensing complications relating to the video's use of footage from the film Far and Away. This release was a successor to an earlier collection of videos entitled Moonshadows, which was released on VHS and laserdisc in 1992. The DVD release also included interviews and features on the making of two videos.
A North American (Region 1) release of the Video Collection DVD was announced on several occasions during 2000-2001, but it did not occur; the reason for which has never been officially stated. At one point it was announced that the release had been delayed in order to allow the inclusion of the video for "May it Be", while the (now defunct) Enya.org fan site reported that a dispute over the sound quality of the release led to it being withdrawn.
As of 2005, The Collection was still considered to be "coming soon" by some North American online retailers although bootleg copies from Asia have circulated at the retail level in some parts of Region 1 since 2000. Despite the release of a new CD by Enya in November 2005, the Region 1 edition of the DVD collection remains in limbo and there has been no announcement of an updated DVD release in other parts of the world.
As of 2009, the only official release of an Enya video on DVD in North America has been "May it Be", which was first included on the DVD release of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
Personal life
As a member of her family's band Clannad, Enya formed a friendship with producer/manager Nicky Ryan. After working with Ryan for seven years, Clannad began looking for another producer. Differences in opinion about the future marketing of the band, coupled with a degree of jealousy towards Enya resulted in an acrimonious split among the group, causing Ryan and Enya to part company with Clannad to pursue a solo career. Following the split, Nicky and Roma Ryan became akin to surrogate parents to Enya as she moved in with them and constructed a small studio in a shed. Enya began giving piano lessons to earn some income, while the Ryans waited for inspiration to strike. Eventually a call from the BBC resulted in a commission to write music for The Celts television series, and larger success would slowly follow.
The unhappy split with her family, in addition to increasing public attention has served only to reinforce Enya's reclusive behaviour. Beginning with Watermark, Enya began to attract the attention of stalkers, several of whom succeeded in breaking into her castle and attacking some of the staff. As a result, Enya spent an estimated €250,000 on security measures for her home, Manderley Castle in Killiney, County Dublin (named after Maxim de Winter's house in her favourite book and black and white movie, Rebecca).
In 1996, an Italian man, who had been seen in Dublin wearing her photograph around his neck, stabbed himself after being ejected from her parents' pub in Gweedore, County Donegal.
In 2006, Enya made it to the number three spot in the ranks of wealthy British and Irish entertainers with an estimated fortune of €109 million (i.e., £75 million or US$136 million). This was enough to take her to number 95 in the Sunday Times Rich List 2006 of the 250 Wealthiest Irish People.
Enya loves cats. In an interview published in 1988, when asked about pets, she replied: "I've got a cat. I love cats; at one stage I had 12. It was just bliss. They'd all lie around in the sun and then come up and climb around my neck."
Enya's favourite classical composer is Sergei Rachmaninoff. Her hobbies include watching romantic black and white films, collecting artwork, reading, and painting.
Notable awards
Enya has won four Grammy Awards for Best New Age Album to date:
- Grammy Awards of 1993, Best New Age Album for Shepherd Moons
- Grammy Awards of 1997, Best New Age Album for The Memory of Trees
- Grammy Awards of 2002, Best New Age Album for A Day Without Rain
- Grammy Awards of 2007, Best New Age Album for Amarantine
Also, "May It Be" was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song at the 2002 ceremonies, but it lost to Randy Newman's "If I Didn't Have You" from Monsters, Inc.
See also
External links
- - Enya, Clannad & Moya Brennan news blog*
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