Eithne Ní Bhráonain
Enya (born 17 May 1961), birth name Eithne Ní Bhráonain (sometimes seen as the Anglicized "Enya Brennan") is Ireland's best-selling solo artist. But Enya is really three people: Enya herself; Nicky Ryan, who produces her records; and Roma Ryan, who writes the lyrics. Enya is a phonetic approximation of how Eithne is pronounced in Irish Gaelic.
Her albums are:
- Enya (1987)
- Watermark (1988)
- Shepherd Moons (1991, won 1992 Grammy for "Best New Age Album")
- The Celts (1992) (remastered rerelease of the 1987 album Enya)
- The Memory of Trees (1995, won 1996 Grammy for "Best New Age Album")
- Paint The Sky With Stars (1997) (mainly contains remixed and remastered versions of earlier songs)
- A Day Without Rain (2000, won 2001 Grammy for "Best New Age Album")
In 1980, Eithne joined the group Clannad (the members included siblings Máire Brennan, Pól Brennan, and Ciarán Brennan). She left the group to start her own solo career shortly before Clannad became famous for "Theme From Harry's Game" in 1982. Enya achieved a breakthrough in her singing career in 1988 with the hit song "Orinoco Flow".
She became known worldwide after the September 11, 2001 attacks because her song "Only Time" (from the album A Day Without Rain) was used in radio and TV reports around the globe.
A number of her songs are sung entirely in Irish Gaelic or Latin, with others containing the hithero-mentioned mixed with English or English by itself. Enya has performed songs relating to J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, including 1991's "Lothlórien" and 2001's "May It Be" (sung in English and Quenya) and "Aníron" (in Sindarin) - the last two appearing on the soundtrack of Peter Jackson's movie The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Despite winning Grammys for "Best New Age Album", Enya does not personally classify her music as belonging to the genre.
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