ENYA'S COMPLETE BIOGRAPHY (ver 0.2) come and see the changes!!
Alain Berger
(Cchanges at the bottom of the page.)
Early Life
Eithne* Ní Bhraonáin (Enya Brennan) was born In Dore (Dobhar), Ireland on May 17, 1961. Dore is a small northwestern village in the region of Gweedore (Gaoth Dobhair), County Donegal. Her Parents are Baba Brennan and Leo Brennan. She is the sixth among her eight nine brothers and sisters: Máire (1952), Ciarán, Pól, Deirdre, Leon, Eithne (1961), Bartley, Olive, and Bridín. Her name is taken from a local goddess legend.
When she was three, she attended a local school in which her grandparents taught. At the age of four, Eithne and her siblings already participated in singing competitions during local Irish festivals (“Feisanna Cheoil”), which were held in her hometown. She grew up amongst a musically inclined family. Her father had a band called The Slieve Foy Dance Band; until he bought a pub in Meenalech (Mín na Leice), which he named "Leo's Tavern". It is still working under the management of Eithne's brother's, Bartley and Leon. Her mother was a music teacher at the Gweedore Comprehensive School in County Donegal.
Eithne’s brothers Ciarán & Pól, together with two of their uncles, (Noel and Pádraig Ó Dúgáin), formed the band An Clann As Dobhair (“The Family from Dobhair”) which became very popular in festivals. It performed folk music with certain American hints, shifting to pure Irish style later on, with a jazzy influence and from people like Pentangle.
At eleven, Enya attended a convent school in Millford, which is run by the Loretto order. She studied classical music and art, excelling in piano and watercolor landscape painting. At the age of seventeen, she went to learn music at college; spending a year studying classical music with Father O'Cheallaigh.
The Start of Her Career
In 1973, An Clann As Dobhair, changed their name to Clannad, and added
sister Máire to the band. Eithne joined Clannad in 1980, by suggestion
of their manager Fachtna O’Kelly. She played the keyboards (Wurlitzer
electric piano, Prophet 5 Synthesizer) and singed backup vocals in two
of their records: “Crann Ull” (1980) and “Fuaim” (1982).
She performed various times with Clannad, until February 1982, when
she retired after a tour in Europe. No one knows for sure why she
did so, however it is thought she was tired of being considered the “little
sister”. Clannad continued with international success.
Eithne moved in with Nicky Ryan, born in Dublin, and his wife Roma, (his wife)from Belfast. The Ryan’s home served as a studio to Artane, north of Dublin. Nicky Ryan had been a sound technician with Planxty, then with Clannad when the group started. Fachtna O’ Kelly took charge of the new group The Boomtown Rats; therefore Nicky Ryan took charge of Clannad. In their house, Ryan and his wife Roma (born in Dublin) have a recording studio, Aigle. Eithne sang the chorus in three songs on Christy Moore’s album Ordinary Man. Fatchna O’ Kelly had suggested Eithne to compose soundtracks for movies, just when she left Clannad.
Enya Goes Solo
It is in 1984 when her first important composing job is requested. Roma Ryan had sent a tape of Eithne to producer David Puttnam (Midnight Express, Chariots of Fire); Puttnam immediately asks for a dreamy, romantic melody with a sixties style music for the 1985 film The Frog Prince. Having a home studio, Eithne works there closely with the Roland Juno 60 Synthesizer and the German Kurzweil sampler; she adds voice and piano after composing the base melody. Nicky Ryan records it and helps shape the compositions. The titles on The Frog Prince credit music to Enya Ní Bhraonáin, which eased pronunciation from Eithne, to the English Enya; it is here where the change to Enya starts.
In 1986, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC-TV) was preparing
a six part documentary series entitled The Celts, about the two thousand
seven hundred-year-history and actual cultural influence of this tribe.
Enya was commissioned to write and perform the music for the series. The
BBC liked the music so much that they edited a selection of the music and
released the soundtrack in 1987 as Enya, even before the series was aired
on television. This gave her the first album, which went unnoticed. Almost
all instruments are performed by Enya; dubbing them up to eighty times
in order to get the ethereal effects. The densely textured sounds and spellbinding
voices enhance the effects. The superimposed voices create the most astounding
effects, which make it so pleasant to listen to the songs.
Nicky Ryan is the producer and co-author of the song arrangements, and Roma is the mastermind behind the lyrics. Most of the songs are in Latin and Gaelic, which makes it difficult to understand clearly the poetic scriptures. Other artists participated in the album, such as Patrick Halling, a classic violinist (He has played with Jethro Tull and Steve Howe). Acclaimed bagpipe player Liam Og O’Flionn (Liam O’Flynn), old member of Planxty, plays the instrumental part in The Sun In The Stream. Arty McGlynn (an ex member of Van Morrison, Planxty and actual member of Patrick Street) plays the electric guitar in I Want Tomorrow. This song is selected as a single and video clip, hitting reaching Ireland’s top hits. This is the start of Enya’s strong ascent into the artist we know today. Enya collaborateds with Sinéad O’Connor in reciting a small passage in the album The Lion and The Cobra.
Sailing Away to Stardom
Rob Dickins, head of Warner Records U.K., heard Enya’s music and became interested in it personally. During an awards ceremony in Ireland, Rob Dickins sat beside Enya and eventually and signed her into Warner RecordsEnya. This was more an “indulgence” than a foreseen success from Rob Dickins, who is known as the most arrogant man in his area, and has the tendency to promote hard or “difficult” artists, no matter how much work or time it takes. After signing with Warner, her album Watermark was released in 1988. The hit single “Orinoco Flow” was a last minute addition; It is arranged as a sort of child’s skipping song (This idea was from Roma, who thought of the melody as such), which propelled Enya into the top positions among charts worldwide. In 1989 Watermark had already sold 8 Million copies. In 1991 she released her second success, Shepherd Moons, selling more than 8 Million copies. This album won her the Grammy award for best New Age Album in the U.S. A re-release of her first album Enya is made under a new name: The Celts. These re-release features edited material from the first release.
The Memory of Trees was her third next album, released in 1995 and obtaining
another Grammy award in 1997. “Anywhere Is” and “On My Way
Home” were the hit singles of this album; both of them follow a similar
waltz-like catchy rhythm to “Orinoco Flow”. Later in 1997, Enya’s released
her last album called Paint the Sky with Stars. This album is a compilation
of the best hits, plus two new songs: Only If and “Paint the Sky with Stars”.
“Only If “was a successful hit, a song that follows Enya’s characteristic
appealing rhythm.
Up to date, no other albums have been released. She is rumored
to be among the 100 richest people in Ireland. She purchased Ayesha Castle
in Killiney, Dublin. A total value of £2,500,000; she lives
in the castle and in London. No new releases have been planned or announced
yet.
A small glimpse at her Life
Enya is well known to have a very private life, this makes her a “mysterious”
Woman, as many have called her. This is the characteristic that sets
Enya apart from other artists. Her privacy is very important, however some
facts have emerged along the years. She has a boyfriend, or had a
boyfriend, however his identity is still kept a secret. She loves cats;
she used to have twelve of them and now only one. “It was just bliss.
They'd all lie around in the sun and then come up and climb around my neck.”
she has said. Among her food choices are white meats and vegetables.
She has been told she is a very good cook, and also that she takes a lot
of time in preparing a meal. She loves perfection and solitude in
the kitchen when she is cooking. She gets frightened when listening other
people’s music, because she thinks that she is in the wrong business, if
that is the type of music that the public wants (other music). One of her
hobbies is watching black and white movies and perhaps buying clothes;
this she takes very seriously and personally, she buys them for her personal
satisfaction not for creating an image.
Up to date, no other albums have been released. She is rumored
to be among the 100 richest people in Ireland. She purchased Ayesha Castle
in Killiney, Dublin. A total value of £2,500,000; she doesn’t
live in the castle yet1 . No new releases have been planned or announced
yet. On July 1997 she had a car accident, she recovered from it and started
to working again.2
*Eithne is the name of a goddess in Irish mythology. Here is the
legend quoted directly from Enya’s interview on the Rosie O’ Donell show
“…It was actually, um, she was not to marry, because it was destined
that her husband would eventually kill her father. So her father sent her
away to this remote island. But, alas, she met somebody and it happened…
it wasn't like he intended to kill her father, but through battle, her
husband killed her father.13
©1998 by Alain Berger
(Includes excerpts from Enya's Unofficial homepage) And other individual
pages as well. My thanks to Peter and Shawn)
Disclaimer: All sources are included here, I assume no responsibility
for equal or similar content to unnamed sources. Alain Berger
Excerpts taken from EUHP’s transcripts page:
1.Article:
EUHP code: T114
Title: Ethereal Girl
Author: David Gritten
Source: Electronic Telegraph (UK) 6 December 1997
Date: 12/6/97
Transcription: Peter Pehrson
2. Article: “ 'ERE AIN'YA ENYA?!? “
EUHP code: P008
Written by Jaynie Senior
Number One (UK)
November 2, 1988
Transcription by Peter Warburton
3.Article: TV Transcript, “Enya on the Rosie O'Donnell Show 1997”
EUHP code: T110
Source: The Rosie O'Donnell Show (US Television)
Date: December 12, 1997 (AirDate).
Transcription: Jim Waters, Jeff Harrison
VER 0.2 DATE 12/6/98
Pheew!! I did some major overhauling to it this time. I'll
only detail the most important parts.
* I Changed some verbs, tense usage and other gramatical errors in the biography. Also modified some sentences with a better sounding version. (e.g. in previous version I had written "Enya Collaborates with...." Now I changed it to "Enya collaborated with..."). I tend to use some of the spanish grammar (I am native spanish speaker)and apply it to english, hence the errors. Also, some Typos were corrected.
PAR=Paragraph
PAR#1 * A reference is placed for Eithne, which explains the origin
of her name. This is modified from the Rosie O' Donell interview.
Changed the number of brothers and sisters from 8 to 9. My mental
claculator is not working very well anymore!;-)
PAR#2 * Added the information about her grandparents teaching at a local school, to which she attended when she was three.Par.
PAR#6 * Corrected the birthplaces of Nicky and Roma Ryan.
PAR#10 * Pieced together from various articles the first part, which states how Enya and Rob Dickins met and eventually signed her to Warner Records.
PAR#11 * Changed the order of publication from "The Memory Of Trees" from third to fourth. I don't know If it is actually the fifth. (Taking into account her first album and the rerelease as a new one, it would be the fifth. However if you eliminate the rerelease it is the fourth) I'll leave it at "NEXT" to prevent confusion.
NEWPAR#12 * I added another section called: "A small glimpse at her Life" which focuses more on some simple aspects of her personal life.
PAR#13 * Corrected the info that Enya was already living at Ayesha castle. A news page has stated the correct info: she has not moved in yet. Also added the info about her car crash in July 1997. This paragraph was moved to the very end of the new addition. It seems to fit there better.
****Also added bigliography and referenced all the articles I used.*****
And also added a disclaimer/waiver of liability. Just in case.
thanks for reading it all if you did!!!