Enya is far and away my favorite musician.

Born Eithne Ní Bhraonáin on May 17th, 1961, to Leo and Baba, she was the fourth youngest of nine children in Dobhar in Gaoth Dobhair, Dun na nGal, Ireland. Her bothers and sisters are: Máire, Ciarán, Pól, Deirdre, Leon, Bartley, Olive, and Bridín.

Born into an extremely musical family, it was inevitable that Eithne, too, would become a musician . . . though she believed that like her mother, she too would teach music . . . Instead, like her father, she became a preforming musician in 1980, joining her sister Máire, her brothers Ciarán and Pól, and her twin uncles Pádraig and Noel Ó Dúgáin in the band Clannad (Irish for "family"), originally started in 1968 as An Clann As Dobhair (Irish for "family from Dore") by her brothers and uncles. She stayed with them for two years, recording two albums (Cran Ull, and Fuaim), but left in 1982 with the band's producer Nicky Ryan, and his wife Roma. It has been said that Nicky was unhappy with the treatment of Eithne by the rest of the band and urged them to make her a full member. When they refused, it was then that they split, taking Eithne into his home and providing for her a piano.

Working for some time at just playing the piano and doing a little composing, it was in 1985 when, after Roma showing him some tapes of Eithne's music, David Puttman commissioned her to write the score for his new film, The Frog Prince (The French Lesson in the U.S.). Unfortunately, she composed only a minimal amount of music for the film, and what she did write was arranged and preformed by a jazz band. However, it was this that inspired a commission out of her to write a theme for a six-part BBC documentry series called The Celts. The original idea was to commission many single songs from many different musicians, but the producer was so pleased with what she submitted ("March of the Celts") that he commisioned her to write the rest of the soundtrack. It was this soundtrack that came to be released in 1987 as Enya, bearing a phonetisized version of her name to avoid confusion, and utilizing Roma Ryan as a lyricist.

Rob Dickens, chairman at WEA, so enjoyed Enya that he sought to sign Enya on his label, resulting in Watermark ('88), Shepherd Moons ('91), and The Memory of Trees ('95), and the "best of" album Paint the Sky with Stars, which included remastered (and on some tracks, remixing) versions of Enya favorites, along with two new songs ("Paint the Sky with Stars" and "Only If . . ."). The most recent item released is the Enya boxed set A Box of Dreams, which included a beautifully designed box, three CD's (Oceans which contained 15 of Enya's "pop-y" songs, Clouds which contained 15 of Enya's instumental songs, and Stars which contained 16 of Enya's soft vocal songs), and a high-quality booklet of new Enya photos and art work with poetry and prose by Roma Ryan. This box set is a must-have, as it contains most of the rare "b-sides" and the three new songs ("Only If . . .", "Paint the Sky With Stars", and "Willows on the Water").

There have been many "cover versions" of her songs (I myself have been arranging Enya's music for preformance by choirs) and the two best examples are by the Taliesin Orchestra. Orinoco Flow: The Music of Enya is full of lush, faithful-yet-creative orchestral arrangements of 11 Enya songs. However, its follow-up, Maiden of Mystery: The Music of Enya, though is worth buying . . . is not quite up to the standard they set with their first album. This time they use their vocalist (who, though has a wonderful voice, tries to sound too much like Enya) far too often. They also diverge from the "orchestral" style, and transform "Anywhere Is" and "Only If . . ." into pop songs. Admitedly, I enjoyed those new interpretations . . . yet I find myself wishing they had left that to someone else and had given us classically orchestrated versions.

As for what the future holds for Enya, no-one knows for certain. But you can be certain that Enya fans world-wide are awaiting the day when an entirely new album will be released . . . (and it is rumored we will see such an album before the next millinium!) and for the day when she tours the world (and rumors say this will correspond with the next album!) . . .

With visual inspiration from Maxfield Parrish and music inspiration from Rachmaninoff, Enya certainly proves herself and her music to be quite classy!

Listen to a sound clip of the rarest (and oldest) Enya song:
"An Ghaoth An Ghrian (The Solar Wind)"