Enya’s songs can be commonly found in the background of some films and television shows. Enya has sold over 75 million records worldwide, which makes her one of the world’s best-selling music artists.
Enya was born on May 17, 1961 and started to play instruments at a very young age. Her family gave her piano lessons and Enya was playing by ear at four years old. Enya began writing music when she was about 10 or 11 years old, but had not yet written anything down on paper. Enya only played the songs for herself. Enya’s family gave her more instruments to play with as time went on, including a synthesizer. Enya’s brother felt that Enya should take music more seriously. Enya agreed, and she took lessons at a local Irish school while studying theory and composition for three years. Enya was also trained in traditional classical technique by the age of 17. Enya performed music on her own for weddings around this time. Enya only performed these events to earn money for her family. Enya was primarily self-taught, but took lessons in piano and harpsichord. Enya eventually entered the College of Music in Dublin to take classes at night school. Enya’s trained proved useful when Enya began working with producer Nicky Ryan after she graduated from college. Enya worked as a session musician and a lyricist. Enya created an album about her life in the time leading up to 1988 called Enya, but it was never released. Enya also wrote music for television advertisements at this time. Enya recorded three songs for the BBC production The Celts.
