Enya

Singer / Musician

Name at birth: Eithne Ni Bhraonain

Enya's breakthrough album Watermark (1988) established her as a singer of sweet, mystical, multi-layered tunes and included the hit single "Orinoco Flow," known to most people as "Sail Away." Enya got her start as part of Clannad, a family band which performed traditional Irish music. After she split with the group, her clear voice and good looks earned her the attention of British music impresario Rob Dickens, who oversaw Watermark and its popular single "Orinoco Flow (Sail Away)." Although Enya is famously media shy (she rarely performs live) and her new releases are few and far between, she has since become Ireland's top-selling female artist and one of the richest women in the U.K. She works with producer/manager Nicky Ryan and his wife, lyricist Roma Ryan, and lives in Ayesha Castle outside Dublin, Ireland. Her song "May It Be," from the Peter Jackson movie Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), was nominated for an Oscar. Enya's other albums include Shepherd Moons (1991), The Memory of Trees (1995), A Day Without Rain and Amarantine (2005).

Extra credit: Enya's father opened Leo's Tavern, a pub in the Irish town of Meenalech.

Other Irish singers on Who2 include Sir Bob Geldof, Bono and Sinead O'Connor.