Full name: Eithne Patricia Ní Bhraonáin [ How do I pronounce that? ]
Date of birth: 17 May 1961
Place of birth: Gweedore, Co. Donegal, Ireland
Parents: Leo and Máire (Baba) Brennan
Siblings: A lot. She has four brothers named Ciarán, Pól, Leon and Bartley, and four sisters named Máire, Deidre, Olive and Bridin. Eithne was born somewhere in the middle.
First language: Irish Gaelic

Favourite things

Books: Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien if we are to believe her promo interviews for May It Be. She read the book as a teenager and her favourite character was Frodo. Also Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. She sometime quotes these books because she’s a total nerd.
Writers:J.R.R. Tolkien, Daphne du Maurier and Alan Bennett
Movies: All About Eve and Rebecca by Alfred Hitchcock. Eithne even named her house Manderley after the creepy mansion from the story because fandom.
Classical music: Sergey Rachmaninoff, Claude Debussy, Erik Satie
Musicals: Jesus Christ Superstar, Sound of Music, Meet Me in St Louis, South Pacific, The King and I according to what she told Elaine Paige
Own songs: Orinoco Flow, On Your Shore, Smaointe…, Marble Halls, Fallen Embers, Amarantine, If I could be where you are, Stars and Midnight Blue, Oíche Chiúin
Pets: Cats, of course.

decoration

Career

Producer: Nicky Ryan
Lyricist: Roma Ryan
Studio: Aigle Studios, Dublin
Recording company: Warner Music UK

Beginnings

First group: Clannad. Enya was a guest member of the family band from 1980 to 1982. She toured with them and participated in recording of two of their albums. She provided keyboards and backing vocals.
First composition: ‘An Taibhse Uaighnearch (The Lonely Ghost).’ The song has never been released and probably never will be.
First released music: The instrumentals ‘An Ghaoth Ón Ghrian (The Solar Wind)’ and ‘Miss Clare Remembers’ released on a ‘Touch Travel’ cassette compilation in 1984
First soundtrack: ‘The Frog Prince’ (1985). Enya recorded and arranged two songs, the rest of her music was orchestrated.
First album: ‘ENYA’ (1987). A selection of music composed for the BBC series ‘The Celts.’

Success

Breakthrough hit: ‘Orinoco Flow‘ (1988). The lead single from her WEA debut ‘Watermark‘ became a surprise no.1 hit in the UK and introduced Enya worlwide. It was the last song written for the album after Rob Dickins (the head of WEA UK) jokingly asked for a single.
Best-selling album: ‘A Day without Rain‘ (2000) sold over 15 million copies
Album sales: over 75 million and counting

Something more…

Three words she used to describe herself: perfectionist, honest, romantic

Name "enya" is a registered trademark.

In 1997, Enya bought a small Victorian castle near Dublin because why not? The castle was originally built in 1840 by Robert Warren and named ‘Victoria’ after Queen Victoria. Later, it was renamed ‘Ayesha’ by Sir Thomas Power. Upon purchase, Enya once again renamed the castle. She chose ‘Manderley’ after Maxim de Winter’s house in Daphne du Maurier’s novel ‘Rebecca.’

Minor planet no. 6433 discovered on 18 November 1978 by A. Mrkos at Klet was named in honour of Enya. "It is beautiful. More beautiful than me. Which is good because it will be here for a few million years longer." (ever-humble Enya for Reflex, 2005)

The term Enyanomics was created to describe the ability to build and manage a considerable business without leaving one’s home base. It was named after Enya because she does not tour and only rarely makes public apppearances.