By Michelle Dumas
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Eithne Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin (born 17 May 1961) known mononymously as Enya, is an Irish composer and singer-songwriter. Enya is the best-selling Irish solo artist, with an estimated 80 million albums sold worldwide, and the second-best-selling music act from Ireland overall, after the rock band U2. Her music has been widely recognised for featuring multi-layers of her own vocals and instrumentation, lengthened reverb, and interwoven elements of Celtic music. The longevity and the atypical yet successful nature of Enya’s career in music are notable; she has been composing her own repertoire for over four decades.
Enya was raised in the Irish-speaking region of Gweedore. In 1980, Enya (as Eithne Ní Bhraonáin) began her musical career playing alongside her family’s Irish folk band Clannad. She left Clannad in 1982 to pursue a solo career, working with the former Clannad manager and producer, Nicky Ryan, and his partner Roma, as their lyricist. Over the following four years, Enya further developed her sound by combining multitracked vocals and keyboards with elements from a variety of musical genres such as Celtic, classical, church, jazz, ambient, world, hip-hop and Irish folk.
The earliest releases by Enya as a solo artist were two instrumentals for the Touch Travel T4 cassette compilation (1984) composed around 1982–83. The majority of the soundtrack for The Frog Prince (1985) was composed by Enya, and she sang two songs with lyrics, however these were not heard in-film. Enya composed a body of work for the 1986 BBC documentary series named The Celts. A selection of her pieces for The Celts were released as her debut album, Enya (1987). Former chairman of Warner Music, Rob Dickins, found himself enjoying the music from The Celts. He happened to meet the trio, expressed his interest in Enya’s music, and so she agreed to sign with Warner Music UK. The initial record deal granted her considerable artistic freedom and minimal interference. The success of Watermark (1988) propelled Enya to worldwide fame, helped mostly by the international hit single “Orinoco Flow (Sail Away)“. This was followed by the multi-million-selling albums Shepherd Moons (1991), The Memory of Trees (1995), and A Day Without Rain (2000). Sales of A Day Without Rain and its lead single, “Only Time“, surged in the United States following its use in media coverage of the 9/11 attacks. After Amarantine (2005) and And Winter Came… (2008), Enya took a four-year break from music, returning to the recording studio in 2012 to begin work on her eighth studio album Dark Sky Island (2015).
Regarding a new album, there have been several mentions by close sources of Enya, particularly her siblings, about Enya recording new music since her 2015 album. According to her sister Moya, Enya was recording music as of 2019. Enya’s latest statement in-print was from the vinyl release of A Box of Dreams in June 2023. It read in Irish: “Beidh muid ag teacht le chéile gan mhoile”, which is approximated as “we will meet again soon”.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Died
- Sandro Botticelli (artist; works include the painting Birth of Venus”“) –
- John Jay (first Chief Justice of the U.S.) –
- John Deere (American manufacturer) –
- Lawrence Welk (musician) –
- Joe Black (baseball player) –
- Tony Randall (actor; well known for his role as Felix Unger on the sitcom The Odd Couple) –
- Frank Gorshin (actor best known for role as the Riddler on the Batman television series) –
- Donna Summer (singer; Queen of Disco”“) –
Born
- Edward Jenner (physician) –
- Maureen O’Sullivan (actress) –
- Dennis Hopper (actor) –
- Bill Paxton (actor) –
- Sugar Ray Leonard (boxer) –
- Bob Saget (actor & comedian) –
- Enya (New Age singer) –
- Craig Ferguson (actor & television host) –
- Tony Parker (basketball player) –
Events
- Joliet-Marquette Mississippi River expedition began–
- The New York Stock Exchange established at Merchants Coffee House, New York City–
- Fire began that destroyed part of St. Louis, Missouri–
- First Kentucky Derby held–
- District of Alaska created–
- Clifton Fadiman hosted the NBC Blue network quiz show Information Please–
- First coin-operated mailbox, the Mailomat, installed–
- First U.S. cross-country helicopter flight ended–
- U.S. Supreme Court issued Brown v. Board of Education decision, ruling that segregated schools are unconstitutional–
- Senate Watergate Committee began public hearings–
- Massachusetts became the first state to process marriage licenses for gay and lesbian couples–
- A team of rocketeers led by a Bloomington, MN, man claimed success in their goal of launching the first amateur rocket into space, sending a 21-foot rocket named GoFast an estimated 70 miles above the Nevada desert–
- Peter Phillips, son of British Princess Anne, wed Canadian Autumn Kelly–
- Allan Ganz honored for 67-year career (and counting) as ice-cream man–
Weather
- A hard frost covered southern New England–
- Portland, Maine, had 4.12 inches of rain in 12 hours–
- The worst May blizzard in seven years hit Denver, Colorado–
- Temperatures dipped to a mere 12 degrees F at the Mauna Kea Observatory, Hawaii–
COURTESY www.almanac.com
