This Day in Music – 17th May

Born on this day in 1961 in Gweedore, County Donegal, in the north west corner of Ireland, Enya Ni Bhraonain, better known simply as Enya.
Growing up in a musical family, the sixth of nine children, (four brothers and four sisters), Enya was always surrounded by music. Her grandparents were in a band that played throughout Ireland, her father was the leader of a group and her mother played in a dance band. Enya briefly joined her family group Clannad, (who scored the haunting 1982 hit single “Harry’s Game”), before leaving to perform solo.
Enya achieved her breakthrough in 1988 with the album Watermark, which featured the hit song “Orinoco Flow”. Her trademark sound is achieved by layering her voice as many as 80 times in the studio.
She is Ireland’s best-selling solo musician and is officially the country’s second-largest musical export after the band U2.