Caroline Corr Bio (Updated)
Mike Matthews
list, I thought I'd post my updated version (I've added a couple of extra
bits). Again, comments are welcome.
Mike Matthews.
CAROLINE CORR
Last updated 16/9/1999
Caroline Georgine Corr was born on 17th March 1973 (St Patrick's Day,
funnily enough) in Dundalk, County Louth, Eire. She is 5'3" (1.60m) with
dark hair and blue eyes. She is the second youngest child of Gerry and Jean
Corr. When she was growing up, she shared a room with Andrea - with only 14
months between them, they were effectively raised as twins. Caroline
listened to music by the likes of Genesis, The Police and Prince while she
was growing up, and The Artist's drummer Sheila E has became one of Caroline
's idols. She currently admires bands like Radiohead, The Verve (R.I.P.) and
All Saints.
Like her sisters and brother, Caroline started learning to play the piano
from an early age. There were constant arguments amongst the children over
whose turn it was at the keyboard, and in an effort to stop the bickering
Gerry Corr decided to introduce them to some different instruments. He asked
their fiddle-playing local priest to give the three-year-old Caroline some
lessons, but she was so terrified of this big man that he turned his
attention instead to the six-year-old Sharon. So when the four siblings
first started playing together as a band, Caroline played keyboards.
While Caroline was still attending the Dun Lughaidh Convent, the four Corrs
auditioned for Alan Parker's The Commitments. Andrea was cast in the small
role of Jimmy Rabitte's spirited little sister, but Caroline also appears in
the film in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo (although she says that she has
never been able to spot herself!)
A year later at the age of 18, a boyfriend and neighbour - a drummer who was
a huge fan of U2's Larry Mullen - showed Caroline some basic beats on his
drum kit, and she was hooked. She started practising incessantly using
teach-yourself CDs and took lessons from a Dundalk drum tutor. When her
siblings heard her playing, they decided to incorporate her drumming into
their fledgling band. As Caroline herself has said, "We pretty much needed a
drummer, and I, well ... I had nothing better to do!"
By this time The Corrs were up-and-running. Her first memory of playing live
on a TV show is not a happy one ("I was so bad . I was incredibly
nervous!"), but she has come a long way since then. Caroline uses Yamaha
drums, Zildjian cymbals and Vic Firth drumsticks. She plays with such
passion and energy that she has a habit of breaking her cymbals! She also
has to change her tom skins every other gig. She found that after playing
the drums for several nights in a row her hands became bruised and
blistered, so she took to wearing gloves. "I kept trying to find some that
were slim and had good grips," she explained in Rhythm Magazine. "I remember
on the first tour I ever did, I was using these things with thick pads in
them, and the sticks just went flying out of my hands every few minutes! I
used equestrian gloves, horse-riding gloves, for a while, but they kept
tearing. And then I started using golf gloves because they're really thin,
they've got really great grips on them and they're not too hot. For me it's
great, it just protects my hands - I used to get quite a lot of blisters and
stuff, so it's just extra protection for me."
As Gregor Kaelin pointed out in one of his postings, Caroline plays to a
"click" (a metronome she hears over her headphones) when performing live. "I
don't know any different," she said in Rhythm Magazine. "I've just learned
that way because we've always used clicks due to the nature of our music. I
don't use a click for the traditional stuff though, and that's kind of
refreshing. But I'm so used to it now, I get the balance right in my head
and I find it okay. I quite like it, actually, although I didn't always."
When asked if it feels strange being a female drummer, Caroline replied,
"Yeah, there is a few female drummers, but there isn't enough, it seems ...
I think it still seems to be much more of a male thing to do, and I don't
really know why that is. I suppose it is a little bit strange and I think
when we used to first tour I used to see an awful lot of people in the
audience sort of just look at me and go, 'Wow, she's playing the drums, is
she really playing?' and I'm going, 'Yeah'. It is a little bit strange but
it's a brilliant thing and I think there should be more girls playing,
because it's not difficult, it's just something you practise like any
instrument."
The general consensus of this group seems to be that while we do like
Caroline's drumming, and while we admire her for taking on an instrument
that is predominantly a male domain, we do feel that her playing is rather
bland and repetitive. She needs to become more creative, and she needs to
study performances by acknowledged great drummers, both past and present.
Caroline undoubtedly has the potential to become a great drummer herself. I
personally I have no doubt that she will get there - and sooner rather than
later.
There seems to be some debate as to when exactly Caroline learned to play
the bodhrán - a traditional Irish handheld drum made of goatskin. In her
book, The Corrs: The Unofficial Book, Jane Cornwell claims she started
playing "at an early age". However, in the May 1999 issue of Rhythm
Magazine, Caroline says she began learning the instrument after she'd
started playing the drums: "Yeah, we did an awful lot of acoustic sessions,
especially touring in the States and going into radio stations. So I needed
something percussive, and I've always loved the bodhrán. I don't know how I
got interested . I remember saying to a friend that I'd love to get one, so
they bought me one and I started to learn. I learnt through a video by a guy
called Stefan Hannigan. It was great for technique, and once I'd got that
down I just experimented myself and played more."
Caroline only started singing with the band on their recent tour. "I used to
only do the bodhrán solo, and it's just that as we extended the tour we
needed to do more things," she said in Rhythm Magazine. "Myself and Sharon
decided that we'd do a song together - 'No Frontiers', written by Jimmy
McCarthy. It's a nice Irish ballady thing, and it goes down great every
night."
Caroline has yet to play the drums on a Corrs album - the band has so far
relied on drum machines and session drummers - although given the quality of
her recent live performances, one must assume that this will change when The
Corrs release their next album next year.
While the attitude of this group towards Caroline's drumming may be somewhat
lukewarm, I have yet to come across a single person who has anything bad to
say about Caroline Corr the person.
Despite a reputation for being quiet, shy, and reserved, Caroline is
actually a talkative individual and has become more outgoing since she
started playing in the band. In an interview in Top Of The Pops Magazine she
said, "Me quiet and reserved? Hmm ... Maybe I had a tiring day or something,
but I'm hardly quiet. I actually talk a lot. In fact, none of us are quiet!"
Male journalists agree that she would probably be the most fun to take out
on a night with the lads.
Caroline has been dating a man called Frank - a property developer in
Ireland - for two years. They are so close that he is prepared to jump on a
plane and fly anywhere in order to be with her.
Andrea Corr has often accused Caroline of "sniffing her jumper". Caroline
insists that this is not true, saying that she simply pulls the neck of her
jumper over her nose while watching TV. "It's kind of a comfort thing, it's
not as crazy as it sounds!" In retaliation, Caroline often accuses Andrea of
sucking her thumb in public and also says, "You're actually pretty lucky to
get through a show without her (Andrea) making at least one mistake."
Despite the accusations of jumper-sniffing and thumb-sucking, Caroline
admits that Andrea is probably her best friend.
Caroline confesses that she has a bad habit of "pulling at my hair." She
doesn't smoke but admits to enjoying the occasional tipple, adding "I'm from
Ireland!" although she says that, "Waking up with a bad head in the morning
is difficult sometimes." When asked what she would be doing on the occasion
of her 27th birthday, she replied, "Drinking copious amounts of alcohol - I
hope!" Caroline - who once bragged, "I can drive ... a golf buggy!" -
recently passed her driving test at her first attempt. She says that photo
shoots "suck" and also says, "I hate it when there's loads of toothpaste all
over the bathroom. Oh, and I can't stand cleaning mirrors." When asked if
she ever gets trolley rage, she replied, "No! I've never had trolley rage,
although I have got very irritated if there's been a load of people crowding
round the vegetables blocking my way to the mange-tout. I don't push and
shove though cos I hate it when people do that. I just wait politely." For
those who are interested, she also admits to buying her underwear from Marks
& Spencer, ". cos they always have a great range . I prefer comfy undies."
She also confesses that she prefers men to wear boxers rather than briefs,
"I like how they shake a lot more!"
Caroline: I'm Caroline, the middle one.
Interviewer: How can you be the middle of four?
Sharon: I don't know, cos that would also make me the middle one.
Caroline: (laughs) Oh, yeah, that's true!
Radio announcer: OK, girls, before you leave, a quick ID for the station?
Andrea: Right, I'm Andrea,
Sharon: I'm Sharon,
Caroline: And I'm Caroline, and we are half of The Corrs.
Andrea: Because, as you know, we are a six piece band...
Caroline: Oh, there's three of us here! I didn't see that (after a half-hour
interview!) Shall we start again?
Caroline: There's actually 14 in our family, but we disowned the others.
Compiled from articles in Top Of The Pops Magazine April 1999 and Rhythm
Magazine May 1999, from the books The Corrs: The Unofficial Book by Jane
Cornwell and The Corrs: 21st Century Celts by Mark Freeth and from The Corrs
Pepsi Music CD-ROM.
I got certain Caroline quotes from the Haste To Caroline website at
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Hub/7733/mainpage/mainframe.html.
Don't ask me where they got them from!
The author takes absolutely no responsibility for the factual accuracy of
this biography!
Sophie Gidlow
I would really love to know more about her.
Thanks,
Sophie
Mike Matthews wrote in message <37e4...@news.jakinternet.co.uk>...
Mike Matthews
Sophie Gidlow <sop...@mieders.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:937760296.23949.0...@news.demon.co.uk...
> Could you make a biography of Sharon Corr as well as Caroline?!?!
>
> I would really love to know more about her.
>
> Thanks,
> Sophie
Sorry, Sophie, but I'm afraid I don't know very much about Sharon. The only
info I've got about her is in the books by Jane Cornwell and Mark Freeth. I
suppose I could put together something from these books, but as you may have
seen the issue of copyright is a bit of a sore point around here, and I
don't want to get in trouble.
Perhaps one of the other regulars on the group knows enough about Sharon to
do a biography. Other than that, have a look at some of the websites that
have been mentioned over the last few days - both Daniel's site
http://www.corrsonline.com/ and Glyn's http://www.corrnucopia.net/ have got
profiles of Sharon (and all the other Corrs, for that matter).
Mike.
Sophie Gidlow
It's just that Sharon is my favourite - therefore I would like to know more
about her background etc.
Thanks once again,
Sophie
Mike Matthews wrote in message <37e5...@news.jakinternet.co.uk>...
>
>Sophie Gidlow <sop...@mieders.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
>news:937760296.23949.0...@news.demon.co.uk...
>
>> Could you make a biography of Sharon Corr as well as Caroline?!?!
>>
>> I would really love to know more about her.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Sophie
>
Mike Matthews
> Ok - thanks anyway Mike!
>
> It's just that Sharon is my favourite - therefore I would like to know
more
> about her background etc.
>
> Thanks once again,
> Sophie
OK, OK, I'll do a biography on Sharon.
Mike.
Sophie Gidlow
Sophie
Mike Matthews wrote in message <37e6...@news.jakinternet.co.uk>...
Mike Matthews
> Please Mike - I wasn't saying you had to!
>
> Sophie
Too late, Sophie - I've already done it!
Actually, it wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be - it was
quite good fun actually, and it's certainly made me a great deal more
appreciative of both Sharon and her contribution to the band. My Sharon
profile isn't as long as my Caroline bio because I don't have quite as
much info about her, but I'm sure it will suffice. I can't post it on
the group yet because I'm still waiting for Daniel to let me know if
it's OK to use some stuff from his site. As soon as I hear from him,
I'll post it.
Mike.
fabrice.silinhaphone
very well english.well, i see different websites about THE CORRS and i ask
you:
do you know where i can find andrea's pictures and the last single who is
"runaway", because i had searched in different websites and i didn't find
yet
so nice to meet you, and i hope you answer me, and see you later!!!
my e-mail: fabrice.si...@libertysurf.fr
Mike Matthews <mal...@CORRSFANS.com> a écrit dans le message :
37e5...@news.jakinternet.co.uk...
>
> Sophie Gidlow <sop...@mieders.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:937760296.23949.0...@news.demon.co.uk...
>
> > Could you make a biography of Sharon Corr as well as Caroline?!?!
> >
> > I would really love to know more about her.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Sophie
>
Sophie Gidlow
Sophie
Mike Matthews wrote in message <37e7...@news.jakinternet.co.uk>...
>Sophie Gidlow <sop...@mieders.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
Mike Matthews
fabrice.silinhaphone <fabrice.si...@libertysurf.fr> wrote
> hi, my name is fabrice, and i'm new in internet.i'm french,so i
don't write
> very well english.well, i see different websites about THE CORRS and
i ask
> you:
> do you know where i can find andrea's pictures and the last single
who is
> "runaway", because i had searched in different websites and i didn't
find
> yet
> so nice to meet you, and i hope you answer me, and see you later!!!
> my e-mail: fabrice.si...@libertysurf.fr
Hello, Fabrice.
I don't tend to spend much time on the internet because I can't really
afford the cost of the phone calls! As a result, I don't know much
about the various Corrs websites.
If you haven't already, have a look at Daniel's site at
http://www.corrsonline.com/ and Glyn's at http://www.corrnucopia.net/.
I also see that there's a post on the group from Tony Harding asking
people to visit his site at
http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/interview/4020. Other than that, if
you have access to a search provider, try searching for websites
containing the keyword "Andrea Corr". That's how I found the Haste to
Caroline website.
Maybe someone else on the group can come up with some other
suggestions.
Mike