of Enya performing "Only If"
1/12/97 before the English
Royal Family:
"At the beginning, I found EITHNE was difficult for
people to say 'Enya' with because it's Gaelic and the
TH in Gaelic we don't pronounce, so I was always known
as 'Enya'. And, I did a phonetic spelling of this name
so as I would always be called 'Enya'. But the second
part is very difficult, it's "Ní Bhraonáin"(Ni = Daughter of
& Bhraonáin = Brennan), so I decided to keep it brief,
and just keep 'Enya'. So when everybody says Enya
you are speaking a little bit of Gaelic." - Enya
Enya created a distinctive style that more closely resembled new age than the
folk and Celtic music that provided her initial influences. Enya is from
Gweedore, County Donegal, Ireland, which she left in 1980 to join the Irish
band Clannad, the group that already featured her older brothers and sisters.
She stayed with Clannad for two years, then left, hooking up with producer
Nicky Ryan and lyricist Roma Ryan, with whom she recorded film and television
scores. The result was a successful album of TV music for the BBC. Enya then
recorded Watermark (1988), which featured her distinctive, flowing music and
multi-overdubbed trancelike singing; the album sold four million copies
worldwide. Watermark established Enya as an international star and launched a
successful career that lasted well into the '90s.
Enya (born Eithne Ní Bhraonáin) was born into a musical family. Her father, Leo
Brennan, was the leader of the Slieve Foy Band, a popular Irish show band; her
mother was an amateur musician. Most importantly to Enya's career, was her
siblings, who formed Clannad in 1976 with several of their uncles. Enya joined
the band as a keyboardist in 1979, and contributed to several of the group's
popular television soundtracks. In 1982, she left Clannad, claming that she was
uninterested in following the pop direction the group had begun to pursue.
Within a few years, she was commissioned, along with producer/arranger Nicky
Ryan and lyricist Roma Ryan, to provide the score for a BBC-TV series called
The Celts. The soundtrack was released in 1986 as her eponymous solo album.
Enya didn't receive much notice, but Enya and the Ryans' second effort,
Watermark, became a surprise hit upon its release in 1988. "Orinoco Flow," the
first single, became a number one hit in Britain, helping the album eventually
sell eight million copies worldwide. Enya spent the years following the success
of Watermark rather quietly; her most notable appearance was a cameo on
Sinead O'Connor's I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got. She finally released
Shepherd Moons, her follow-up to Watermark, in 1991. Shepherd Moons was
even more successful than its predecessor, eventually selling over ten million
copies worldwide; it entered the U.S. charts at number 17 and remained in the
Top 200 for almost four years.
Again, Enya was slow to follow up on the success of Shepherd Moons, spending
nearly four years working on her fourth album. The record, entitled Memory of
Trees, was released in December of 1995. Memory of Trees entered the U.S.
charts at number nine and sold over two million copies within its first year of
release. 1997 saw the release of a greatest-hits collection, Paint the Sky with
Stars: The Best of Enya, which featured two new songs. Enya's first album
of new material in five years, Day Without Rain, was released in late 2000. ~
Stephen Thomas Erlewine & William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
Enya released several singles and remixes in 2001, and in
2002 was included on the soundtrack to the movie The Lord
Of The Rings - The Fellowship of The Ring. She was nominated
for an Oscar that year for one of her songs "May It Be" from
the soundtrack album. She went on in 2002 to win the Grammy.
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).
She lives a very solitary and private life now in
Killiney in Co.Dublin. She has recently purchased an oldcastle (Ayesha Castle) reportedly for £2.5 million,
and is renovating it so she can move in. She lives on
her own now and says she feels that it's better that way.
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