Biography

Musical upbringing

Solo career

Eithne, working with Nicky and his wife Roma, recorded two solo instrumental songs called "An Ghaoth Ón Ghrian" ("The Solar Wind") and "Miss Clare Remembers" that were released on the 1983 album Touch Travel. Eithne was first credited as Enya for writing some of the music for the 1984 movie The Frog Prince which was released on a soundtrack album of the same title. Another early appearance on record followed in 1987, where Enya provided spoken (not sung) vocals on Sinéad O'Connor's debut album, The Lion and the Cobra. The title of the album is a partial English translation of Enya's Gaelic reading of Psalms 91:11-13 on the song "Never Get Old".

Personal life

Enya is a very private person who tries to keep her personal life apart from her musical career, even by spending an estimated €250,000 on security measures for her home, Manderley Castle (named after her favourite book and black and white movie Rebecca), Victoria Road Killiney, County Dublin. Despite this, around mid-August 2005, there were two separate security breaches at Enya's home, and she was present on both occasions (her security system includes a panic room). [1]

Music

Selected discography

Albums

• Enya (1987)
• Watermark (1988)
• Shepherd Moons (1991)
• The Celts (1992)
• The Memory of Trees (1995)
• Paint the Sky with Stars (1997)
• A Day Without Rain (2000)
• Amarantine (2005)

DVD Release

Misconceptions

Many people incorrectly believe that Enya recorded the song "Adiemus". The song was actually recorded by a band of the same name with vocals of Miriam Stockley. "Adiemus" is often distributed through file sharing networks with erroneous information saying that Enya recorded the song. Another song falsely attributed to Enya through file sharing is the song "Secret World" from Ronan Hardiman's "Solas" album. Similarly, recordings by Loreena McKennitt, Sissel Kyrkjebø, Enigma, and Máire (Moya) Brennan (her sister) have also often been mistakenly identified as Enya recordings, particularly those Sissel recorded for the Enya-like soundtrack to Titanic. There are some musical qualities similar to Enya's in the "Everyone's Gone To The Moon" theme from the game Final Fantasy IV. Many television advertisements have also been known to use music similar in sound and style to Enya's, with the official Enya website's FAQ's covering this point.

Trivia

• The asteroid 6433 Enya is named after her.

• The B-Side single "Eclipse" is actually a reversed and modified version of Enya's song "Deireadh An Tuath", from the 1987 album 'Enya'.

Similar musical style to 'Enya'

• Clannad
• Vangelis
• Era (musical project)
• Lisa Gerrard
• Jean-Michel Jarre
• Patrick O'Hearn
• Kitaro
• Gweedore
• Roger Eno
• Deep Forest
• Loreena McKennitt
• Mike Oldfield
• Triniti
• Moya Brennan
• Adiemus
• Sirocco

• Billboard Album Rankings - Enya
• Billboard Singles Rankings - Enya
• 'Eclipse' reversal referenced on official Enya site

Find out more about Enya on Wikipedia