Variously described as ‘mood music’, New Age and “trance-like”, Enya (real name, Eithne Ni Bhraonain) has sold albums in their millions.
Classically trained on piano, Enya started out in her family’s group Clannad in the early 80s, before being approached to compose music for a BBC TV documentary series, The Celts.
When it was finally issued on record in 1987, the reviews were glowing and soon afterwards she was signed to WEA.
Her Watermark album (1988) went quadruple platinum in the UK, sold eight million copies worldwide, and spawned the global megahit single Orinoco Flow – a deep, intriguing mix of Celtic folk voices, multi-layered synthesizer stabs and lush orchestration which hit #1 in the UK on 29 October 1988.
The title of the enigmatic song came from Orinoco Studios, where it was recorded, although by water-based coincidence Orinoco is one of the longest rivers in South America.
The final verse sneaks in a bizarre shout-out to Warner Bros UK CEO Rob Dickins and producer Ross Callum.
The beautiful songstress from Gweedore in County Donegal, Ireland, went on to have even more success in the 90s, although live performances were few and far between.
In recent years she has recorded music for the movie Lord Of The Rings.
