Enya | |
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_(cropped).jpg) Enya in 1988 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Eithne Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin |
| Also known as |
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| Born | 17 May 1961 Dore, Gweedore, County Donegal, Ireland |
| Genres | |
| Occupations |
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| Instruments |
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| Years active | 1980–present |
| Labels | Warner |
| Website | enya |
Eithne Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin (born 17 May 1961) known mononymously as Enya, is an Irish singer and composer. Enya is also the best-selling Irish solo artist, with an estimated 80 million albums sold worldwide;[1]the second-best-selling music act from Ireland overall, after the rock band U2. The music of Enya has been widely recognised for featuring multi-layers of her own vocals and instrumentation, lengthened reverb, and interwoven elements of Celtic music. Enya's career in music spans across four decades; she has been composing and recording music since the 1980s. [2]
Enya was raised in the Irish-speaking region of Gweedore. In 1980, as Eithne Ní Bhraonáin, Enya began her musical career playing alongside her family's Irish folk band Clannad. She left Clannad in 1982 to pursue a solo career, working with the former Clannad manager and producer, Nicky Ryan, and his partner Roma, as their lyricist. Over the following four years, Enya further developed her sound by combining multitracked vocals and keyboards with elements from a variety of musical genres, such as Celtic, classical, church, jazz, ambient, world, hip-hop[3] and Irish folk.
The earliest releases by Enya as a solo artist were two piano/synthesiser instrumentals for the Touch Travel T4 cassette compilation (1984) composed around 1982–83.[4] The majority of the soundtrack for The Frog Prince (1985) was originally composed by Enya, and she sang two songs with lyrics for the project. Enya had also composed a body of work for the 1986 BBC documentary series named The Celts. A selection of her pieces for The Celts were released as her debut album, Enya (1987). The chairman of Warner Music, Rob Dickins, found enjoyment in listening to Enya's music for The Celts. He happened to meet the trio, expressed his interest in Enya's music, and so the trio agreed to sign with Warner Music UK. The initial record deal granted her considerable artistic freedom and minimal interference. The success of the album Watermark (1988) propelled Enya to worldwide fame, primarily through her international hit single "Orinoco Flow (Sail Away)". In the following decade and up to the new millennium, she released the multi-million-selling albums Shepherd Moons (1991), The Memory of Trees (1995), and A Day Without Rain (2000). Sales of A Day Without Rain and its lead single, "Only Time", surged in the United States following its use in media coverage of the 9/11 attacks. After Amarantine (2005) and And Winter Came... (2008), Enya took a four-year break from music, returning to the recording studio in 2012 to begin work on her eighth studio album Dark Sky Island (2015).
Regarding a new studio album, there have been mentions about Enya recording new music, according to several close sources. As of 2019, Enya's sister Moya Brennan had mentioned that Enya was recording music. [5] Enya's latest statement in-print was from the vinyl release of A Box of Dreams in late June 2023. It read in Irish: "Beidh muid ag teacht le chéile gan mhoile", which approximates as "we will meet again soon".[6]
- ^ English, Eoin (23 November 2016). "Hark! The herald Enya sings in historic Cork chapel". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
- ^ "40 years of Enya". BelfastTelegraph.co.uk. 8 July 2023. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 5 May 2024.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:8was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Various - Touch Travel, 10 January 1984, retrieved 24 August 2023
- ^ "'We are always together,' says Moya on private sister Enya". Independent.ie. 28 February 2019. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:6was invoked but never defined (see the help page).