Enya

Enya grew up as Eithne Ní Bhraonáin in Gweedore, an Irish-speaking corner of Ireland, and got her start in 1980 in Clannad, her family's folk band. Two years later she struck out on her own, teaming up with the band's former manager and producer Nicky Ryan, while his partner Roma Ryan wrote the words. Soundtrack work came first, for The Frog Prince and then the BBC series The Celts, whose music became her debut album in 1987.

Then came Watermark, in 1988, and "Orinoco Flow (Sail Away)" drifted onto the radio like nothing else around it: her own voice stacked layer upon layer into a private choir, piano hanging in a long wash of reverb, Celtic melody gliding over the top. Shepherd Moons, in 1991, sank deeper into that hush with "Caribbean Blue", and the records kept selling by the millions, through The Memory of Trees and A Day Without Rain, whose "Only Time" surged in America after it was used in news coverage of the September 11 attacks.

Along the way she has picked up 4 Grammys and an Oscar nomination for "May It Be" from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, and with more than 80 million albums sold she stands as Ireland's best-selling solo artist.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.