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Enya Biography
Review The Artist (37)
Source: http://www.enya.org/info/bio.htm
known as Enya - was born in 1961, 17 May, and spent her childhood in Gweedore (in County Donegal, situated in the north-west of Ireland, one of the main redoubts of the Irish language). There are nine brothers and sisters. Apart from Enya, who is in the middle, there are four other girls and four boys. All the family have won many competitions and are famous in national traditional [music] circles.
Whilst at school, Enya studied the piano and classical music. Three of her brothers and sisters, Máire Ní Bhraonáin (Mary Brennan), Ciarán Ó Braonáin (Kieran Brennan) and Pól Ó Braonáin (Paul Brennan) formed, together with their uncles Pádraig Ó Dugáin (Patrick Duggan) and Noel Ó Dugáin (Noel Duggan), a folk music group (at first with a certain American feel and then more purely Irish, though influenced by jazz and by others such as Pentangle). The group was named Clannad, a contraction of "the family from Gweedore" in Irish. In 1980, at the suggestion of their manager, Fachtna O'Kelly, Enya became a member of the group, participating in the recording of two of their albums, Crann Ull and Fuaim. Apart from providing vocals, she played the Wurlitzer electric piano and later the Prophet 5 synthesizer. She performed with Clannad on many occasions, until, in February 1982, on completing a European tour, she left the group, no one really knowing why. Perhaps she was fed up with being treated as just the little sister.
Since then she has lived in Artane, in the north of Dublin, sharing a house together with Nicky Ryan and Roma, his wife, who comes from Belfast. All had been involved with Clannad at some time. Nick Ryan had worked as a sound engineer with Planxty and later with Clannad, at the time the group was starting out. In 1980, their manager, Fachtna O'Kelly, took charge of the new group The Boomtown Rats, for which reason Nicky thenceforth took charge of their [Clannad's] work. In his house he installed a recording studio, Aigle. There he has recorded, for example, Christy Moore's album Ordinary Man, which has three songs in which Enya takes part in the chorus.
It was also Fachtna O'Kelly who suggested to Enya after she left Clannad, that she devote herself to composing for films. And so, in 1984, she approached her first important task. Roma Ryan had sent a cassette of Enya to film producer David Puttnam, who already had to his credit such titles as Midnight Express, Chariots Of Fire and Los Gritos Del Silencio. Puttnam asked her to compose dreamy and romantic music with a sixties feel for the feature film The Frog Prince.
Having a studio at her disposal, Enya worked almost always at home with the Roland Juno 60 synthesizer or the Kurzweil sampler, and then added piano and voice. Nicky Ryan recorded everything and helped to put the compositions into their final form.
The next commission was for the BBC. It was to prepare music for an important television documentary series on the history of the Celtic civilisation throughout its 2700 years. The series was called The Celts. The composition took ten months work. The music was liked so much that the BBC decided to release a selection as an independent record, before the series was broadcast and entitled simply Enya, with barely a mention in the liner notes that it was a soundtrack. She played nearly all the instruments on the album, sometimes doubling up as many as eighty voices to create her characteristic sound, of dense textures, and ethereal voices, dreamlike and enchanting. It was to paint by means of synthesizers a modern sonic landscape that could evoke different atmospheres, from the mournful lament of 'Deireadh An Tuath' to the striking 'Boadicea', with its astounding dynamic of overdubbed voices. Nicky Ryan acted as producer and co-author of the arrangements and his wife Roma wrote nearly all the lyrics, for the most part nearly inaudible or impenetrable, giving an evanescent character to the music by being sung in Latin, Welsh or Scottish Gaelic.
Only on three of the pieces did other musicians take part, one on each. Patrick Halling, a classical violinist who frequently plays in recording sessions for rock artists (Jethro Tull and Steve Howe, for example), added delicate nuances to the final track. The great piper Liam Óg O'Floinn (or Liam O'Flynn, founder member of Planxty and regular collaborator of composer Shaun Davey) played the melody part of 'The Sun In The Stream'. Lastly, the guitarist Arty McGlynn (ex-member of Van Morrison's band and of Planxty and current member of Patrick Street) correspondingly completed with his elegant flourishes the only song whose lyric was comprehensible to us, being in English and sung clearly, 'I Want Tomorrow'. It was, moreover, the song chosen as a single and video (curiously, in the video the guitar is not heard.)
This record subsequently climbed to number one in the Irish charts, which started the commercial rise of Enya. She collaborated with the singer Sinéad O'Connor reciting a short text on 'Never Get Old' from her album The Lion And The Cobra.
She signed with an important multinational (WEA), and had a resounding success with her second album Watermark, which has passed 10 million sales worldwide, and has gone platinum in 14 different countries, helped by the single 'Orinoco Flow', a No 1 hit in Britain. Then she repeated her world success with Shepherd Moons, which spent an amazing 199 weeks on the Billboard charts in the USA and has sold over 11 million copies.
A new version of the album Enya was released as The Celts and in 1995 with The Memory of Trees was yet another smash hit album. Enya has been nominated for four Grammy Awards and has won two, both for "Best New Age Album", Shepherd Moons in 1992 and The Memory of Trees in 1997. Also in 1997 she released a compilation album titled Paint The Sky With Stars that contained a selection of the Enya better known themes and two new songs: 'Paint The Sky With Stars' and 'Only If...' That year itself came out A Box Of Dreams; a box set that contained a three CD collection and an illustrated booklet. The CDs were entitled Oceans, Clouds and Stars, and they cover the Enya career since her debut in 1987.
The artist spent the remainder of the decade contributing soundtrack material to various projects, before returning to the studio to record A Day Without Rain, her first new studio album in five years. Of this album she says, "The title refers to the mood on a particularly peaceful day on which there was no rain. We do get a lot of rain in Ireland in all seasons. We had a run of days where it had done nothing but rain. Then one day the sun came out. It was then that I wrote the title track, so what else could I call it?".
The album shot up the US and several European charts almost a year after its release, thanks to the use of the track "Only Time" in news coverage of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York.
Her music has appeared in many more smash hit films, including "L.A. Story", "Green Card", "Toys", the TomCruise/Nicole Kidman film "Far and Away" and Martin Scorcese's "Age Of Innocence". Enya's new song 'Only Time' features in the film, "Sweet November", starring Charlize Theron and Keanu Reeves. In 2001 she records 2 brand new songs for Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring soundtrack, "Aniron (theme for Aragorn and Arwen)" and "May It Be".
She has made appearances at benefits and has played for the Pope, the King of Sweden and the Queen of England, but these involved playbacks of her work while she played and possibly sang along, not a true live performance. "It’d be a really great thing to do,” Enya says of performing live. “We’ve first been talking about next year, trying to at least do a TV special performance, having the setting, say, in a cathedral or something and involve quite a few people - orchestrating the music, having choir. It’d be fantastic to try. You can’t emulate the same sound, but definitely the music can cross over to a rendering for a live performance. We’re both very confident about that.”
In 2002 Enya got a Golden Globe and Oscar nomination for "best original song" with "May It Be". Wins a new Grammy Award for "Best New Age Album" with A Day without Rain. Wins three World Music Awards: "best-selling Female artist", "best-selling New Age artist" and "best-selling Irish artist", and wins the award for "best pop-rock single" with "Only Time" in the Echo Awards (Germany)...
Although fronted by Enya, the music released under her name is the result of collaboration between three people: Enya, who sings, writes and performs all the music, her producer, sound engineer and co-arranger Nicky Ryan and his wife, lyricist Roma Ryan. Enya has previously stated that without any one of them, "Enya" would not exist. |
Would you please submit the latest Enya biography to me? Thank You.
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Review about Enya
Angel Voice | Reviewer: Alvin | 11/24/2008
The music of enya completely changed me. I've heard few of her songs when i was in college sometime 1995. I heard it played in one of our classrooms when it catch my senses. at time, R&B was already popular. but the voice that Ive heard was completely elemental! I asked one of the students there if they happen to know the title of the song, and she said it was sheperd moons by Enya since then i have collected all of her albums until now. I love it.
Hello from Malaysia | Reviewer: Ganesan Malaysia | 11/13/2008
Hearing your voice makes me feel that time has stopped for the moment.For years i have been a great fan of yours and i am glad that i am able to tell you that you are truly blessed with a beautifull voice.Hope you will do an asian tour and come to Malaysia in the near future.Till then keep making beautifull songs so that people like me will always feel happy and peacefull in our hearts.God bless
review enya | Reviewer: freyds | 10/11/2008
i find her song relaxing and puts me into something of out of this world. she have voice that is different from other female artists.the lyrics are good and makes you feel that in this world full of chaos and strife we can still hope..
shes different | Reviewer: Jonathan of cebu | 10/9/2008
i like her songs,it reminds me something from the past,she had a great voice that i cannot compare to some female artist,the combination is great , the style the instrument and her voice is perfect..
An Excellent Artist and Her Music | Reviewer: TK | 10/8/2008
When "Orinoco Flow" first came out in the '90's, I loved it but didn't know what the title was. Guess I should have done more research, but when Celtic Woman came out with the song, I remembered how much it had affected me and found out who had first performed the song. as a guitarist, more on the classical side than the rock side of the spectrum, I have been looking for the music and lyrics. When I heard it again performed by Enya on You Tube, my memory shot back to those earlier days and did the research that led me to this site. Now, i will add her excellent music to my collection!
She has a God-given talent that does not quit!
the way it is | Reviewer: olivia | 8/5/2008
i lack words of expression at the moment, Enya's an embodiment of incrediblity as human.
her voice is outta this world, so as the lyrics, she has an exraordinary nature, her song lifts my spirit more than anything.....
infact, that's just the way i can express myself for now. even though it ought to be more than......
a world without Enya | Reviewer: ade | 8/4/2008
well i wouldn't say that i've been listening to yours songs for about 20 years cos i'm only 17,and i' a Nigerian.although most of your songs dont get 2 our side of the world,but i've listened to alot of songs,but there s niothig like enya.although i dont understand some of the words,but its about the voice the rytheme,the flow,its like a voice telling me you can do it,its in you. its makes me feel like i on top of the world,like everybody else is frozen,and i can do anything everything. i've been looking at the reviews for some time now,alot of people say they like your voice,and stuff like that,but its more than just the voice i like, its the uniqeness in your rytheme,the mixture of instruments,that reach out to that hidden faith in anyone,that gives me the drive and inspiration i need. you knw down here in nigeria,some people actually think your songs are satanic,but i bet if this is wat i get to listen to throughout eternity in hell,then i dont mind hopping in,athough i'm a 100 percent sure that u are an angel 4rm God. as much as i would love to say that i would like you to be at my wedding,i know its only a wish,but if by any time you drop in nigeria please i would love to be there, because its really your kind of songs nigerians,africans need to inspire us. THANK YOU and we love u
enigmatic singer | Reviewer: Anamoah | 8/1/2008
i dearly love her voice and lyrics. they really inspires me with lots of sensation, most especially when i am sad and depressed. i am aroused to know where she gets her lyrics from. she is so great a musician.
God bless you Enya, keep it on.
My Model | Reviewer: kelvin Kelly | 6/24/2008
Words won't just xpress the real feelings here.
But Enya, I only wish I could meet you for real.
I remember telling my friends that when I'm getting married Enya must be present. Right Flora's secret is my phone's ring tone. I love and respect you and you are what I call a WOMAN.
You've got concept and ideas like you are from out of the ordinary. I'm sure God wasted years in creating you. I know I'll meet you before I leave this world. Still be my best. Thanks
pleased | Reviewer: emmanuel | 5/8/2008
im just in luv with yo songs coz they tatch my soul giving me a ralaxed piece of mind especially when stressed,bored or tired!the nice voice,beautiful insruments,oh my just cant describe yo beautiful music by expression of words ,greatsongs.
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Review the Artist Enya
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