The Sydney Morning Herald: 02 Dec, 2000
Her fans often don't know what she's singing but, writes John Aizlewood, she outsells U2, anyway ... On ya, Enya.
Castles are so Enya that she has purchased one herself, Ayesha Castle in Killiney, south Dublin. On one side she overlooks the Wicklow Mountains, on another the Irish Sea. "It's very castle on the exterior," she says, "but it's very much a home inside. It's actually a very small castle and I fell in love with it."
Enya's fortress - which she bought for 2.5 million ($6.7 million) - towers over Bono's compound in much the same way her sales have towered over U2's since she sold the first of 44 million non-soundtrack albums in 1988. "When I first walked in, someone said it overlooked Bono's," she smiles wryly. "I thought, 'Hmm, so it does.' "
Enya's operation is tight-knit. Enya composes. Her manager, Nicky Ryan, arranges and produces. Ryan's poet wife Roma - who so closely resembles an older Enya that in some circles she is referred to as the "stunt double" - is responsible for the lyrics. Outsiders are unwelcome. "I don't like anybody else's opinion," she states firmly.
Enya is shy, but she is also not to be trifled with. Earlier this year, her record company stopped river traffic on the Thames in London to launch A Day Without Rain with a fireworks display. Enya was heard to remark how spectacular it all was, but that the money would have been better spent on point-of-sale displays in record shops.
From the very beginning she has been an aloof, mysterious figure, untarnished by scandal. She rather quietly sells millions of albums. If the plan was to ensure that the artist's personality never obscured the artist's music, it has worked spectacularly well.
"My private lifestyle bothers a lot of people," she sighs. "It's not a hanging offence not wanting to go to nightclubs. What happened to choice? My choice is that after a certain amount of promotion, I feel it gets very false and then I'm not interested. When the album has been out for, say, 10 months, people will start focusing on me and I really don't want that. I love the music to be known, but I'm not after fame for myself."
Enya's life was always musical. Her father, Lee O, was a Donegal showband leader, while her mother, Marie was a music teacher. In 1970, two of her four older brothers, one of her four older sisters and two cousins formed Clannad, which enjoyed moderate success in Ireland and abroad. A decade later, Nicky Ryan, Clannad's manager, soundman and producer, invited Enya, now classically trained, to join Clannad. Two years, two albums and several tours later, Ryan quit Clannad with his protégé.
"He loved the way Clannad harmonised," recalls Enya, "but he had this idea about recording a voice and layering it. He suggested I harmonise with myself and build it up spontaneously."
It sounded vague, but Enya intuitively understood what Ryan was searching for. Roma Ryan enticed David Puttnam to use Enya on his 1985 film The Frog Prince. The BBC commissioned her for an episode of The Celts in 1987, then the remainder of the series. In October 1988, the first proper album, Watermark, was released and Orinoco Flow was a number-one single.
The threesome lived and recorded at the Ryans' Dublin house. When the money poured in - 1991's Shepherd Moons spent 199 weeks on the US charts - they built a new studio, but their working method has remained the same. Enya begins with a blank sheet of paper and no distractions.
"The listeners, the fans and the success are outside that door. I'm not thinking about what people would like to hear; that's dangerous, it's cheating myself. If I did that, I'd have to call it a day. What does come with me is inspiration from people, memories, landscapes, people I love. I would never be able to work anywhere else, certainly never at home. It's a very, very, peaceful, calming place."
She is the perfectionist, searching for the perfect emotional timbre. Ryan is the pragmatist who sees the big picture, the one who knows when to stop. Meanwhile, Roma Ryan has been following the track's evolution and provides the lyrics.
"Myself and Roma don't sit and discuss. After working together for all these years, Roma can sense the emotional feeling. For example, when I read her lyrics to Fallen Embers, they were exactly how I felt when I wrote the melody. Perfect." The process is not a speedy one. "That's why there aren't 10 Enya albums out there," she says. In fact, there are three, not including her "best of" collection.
"This album is positive because that's where I'm at in my life," she continues. "Three years ago, I was asking whether I should take time out to have a family. I was putting pressure on myself and it was a terrible thing to do ... [But] I wouldn't change anything I've done over the past few years. "
She is at a loss as to why she is so successful internationally (Watermark went platinum in 14 countries). "It's very difficult. The only connection I have with my audience is a signing session or through letters. What comes across to me is the fact that when I sing in Gaelic they can still sense the emotional feeling in my performance.
"Nowadays, I don't expect everybody to listen to the music. Within ourselves - myself,
Nicky and Roma - we are really happy."
A Day Without Rain is out on Reprise.
Main page: Enya.sk