Enya
Enya
Eithne Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin, known professionally as Enya, is an Irish singer-songwriter, musician, and producer. Born and raised in County Donegal, Ireland, Enya began her music career when she joined her family's Celtic band Clannad, in 1980. She left the group in 1982 to pursue a solo career with producer and arranger Nicky Ryan and his wife, poet and lyricist Roma Ryan, developing her distinct sound of multi-tracked vocals, keyboard instruments, and elements of New age, Celtic, classical, church, and...
NationalityIrish
ProfessionWorld Music Singer
Date of Birth17 May 1961
CityGweedore, Ireland
CountryIreland
I don't have pets, I have two guard dogs; and I don't do my own shopping; it's a security thing.
We called the album 'Amarantine' to mean everlasting. Poets use the word to describe an everlasting flower and I loved the image of that.
I enjoyed the two years I was with Clannad. I enjoyed touring. We toured a lot in Europe.
When I was growing up, I'd be in the choir. My mum was the organist in the church, so I'd sing in the church.
When making music I sink myself into the process as deeply as I can and forget all of the success.
I do understand that not everyone is going to sit and listen to an Enya album. When someone says it's not their cup of tea, it's not their kind of album, that's fine by me.
I know every note in every song, the whole history of it, even parts that were there and are gone.
People tend to think that because I need all this time on my own in the studio, that I need time on my own, period. And that's not really true.
The music sold itself before anybody knew who I was.
Writing music on your own makes you think a lot about your life. Who are you? Would you change anything about yourself? This is where it comes from.
It's very easy for me to keep a low profile because the focus I feel is always on the music. Success and fame are two different things. And so I feel the success is always towards the music, which means that I can have a very normal and private lifestyle.
Wintertime for me is a time when I do a lot of my writing in the studio. It's a time I enjoy. And it's very reflective and a very calming time of the year. Throughout the year I gather a lot of musical inspirations, and this is where I bring them to the studio and see what will evolve musically.
The fans are very, very loyal. They're always saying, 'When is the next album?' They know when I finish in the studio it's got to be a few years before the next album.
It's a noisy environment we all live in, whether it's traffic or the workplace, so it's very difficult to think about your life in general. A lot of people are afraid to do that. They like to hide behind their work and not face up to a big problem in their life.