Enya

Eithne Patricia Ní Bhraonáin, better known as Enya, was born on 17 May 1961 in a small village of the Gweedore region in the northwestern part of Ireland. She started her musical career as singer and keyboardist in Clannad, a band formed by her father and elder brothers to play Irish folk music. After the break up of this group, Enya moved to Dublin to develop her solo career. She became known to audience after playing soundtrack for The Frog Prince (1985). In a year, she was offered to do the same for the BBC documentary on the Celtic history and culture. This work appeared so impressive that the BBC managers found it reasonable to release a compilation of Enya’s songs, named after her. It was a good commercial mover to open a new independent and talented performer. In 1988 she released her second album, Watermark, made in the same vein as the first studio work. It was an extremely good seller and ran platinum in 14 countries.

The waiting for Shepherd Moons took as long as almost two years. Enya worked hard and responsibly on the new material and made an album just as perfect as she had expected it to be. This one contained the song Book of Days (Far and Away), featured on the soundtrack to Far and Away with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman starring. This song was released in two versions, with lyrics in Gaelic and English. Shepherd Moons led the British charts and enlarged Enya’s audience significantly. This release was followed by a long break in the singer’s studio activity. In 1987, The Celts was released. It was not a fresh studio work, but a renewed version of the Enya album with slightly modified tracks. Her next album, The Memory of Trees, was finally presented to the listeners only in 1995. Enya remained in the frames of the style chosen for the first studio works and made this album in accordance with the audience’s expectations. She was selected as the best New Age artist and received two Grammies for Shepherd Moons, and The Memory of Trees.

Meanwhile, Enya was successful at combining production of her own albums and making soundtracks for movies. Paint the Sky with Stars: The Best Of Enya with Stars was released in 1997 to present Enya’s best compositions and make it easier for the fans to wait three more years for the new album to come. A Day Without Rain was recorded within the limits of the same style, yet different from those done before. This album had critical acclaim and recognition among listeners and earned Enya another Grammy fair enough. May It Be, a song written exclusively for The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, brought her Oscar and Golden Globe. Enya was also prized with three World Music Awards as the best selling singer, best selling New Age artist, and best selling Irish artist. After another long pause, Enya released her following LP in 2005 under the title Amarantine. The lyrics of its songs were written in English, Japanese and the invented language, Loxian. It won another Grammy and entered the To 10 in the USA and the UK. In 2007, Enya revealed her plans to make her new album devoted to the Christmas and winter themes.

Enya’s new full-length studio album And Winter Came... was released on November 7, 2008. The songs on the album primarily had the Christmas and winter themes. The album consisted of 12 tracks: ten original compositions in English; the single Oiche Chiuin sung in Gaelic and Oh Come and Oh Come Emmanuel in English and Latin. A couple of tracks from the new album were reworked versions of songs that Enya released in the past, such as the title track And Winter Came. In 2009 the compilation The Very Best of Enya, which included the best compositions of the singer was issued.