Enya, the reclusive songstress living in an enchanted castle, remains an enigma despite selling a staggering 75 million albums worldwide. With an asteroid and even a fish species named in her honour, she’s anything but a conventional celebrity.
The elusive Enya, who enjoys fortified solitude just beyond Dublin, hasn’t been seen in public for over ten years, shunning touring, marriage, and the limelight. Her astonishing financial success hasn’t led her to a life of flaunting but to an existence as tranquil as her music.
In 2016, The Sun quoted her expressing affection for ‘Strictly’: “I’m a big fan of Strictly. I don’t know if I could do the show, although I would adore to learn the Argentine tango”. Otherwise, she preserves a mystique that befits her otherworldly tunes while living amongst a dozen cats in her Victorian fortress, neighbours with the likes of Bono.
Born Eithne Ní Bhraonáin from Gweedore, County Donegal into a prolific musical family, the calm-seeking Enya emerged from a lively home filled with tradition and harmonies. She quickly charted her own course following a stint with Clannad, migrating to create unique soundscapes alongside producer Nicky Ryan and his wife Roma.
Their trio has spent countless hours forging auditory experiences, layering hundreds of vocals, embracing multiple languages including English, Gaelic, French, Latin, Tolkien’s tongues, and even Enya’s invented Loxian, reports the Irish Mirror.
The 1988 release of ‘Watermark’ catapulted Enya to stardom, with the enchanting single ‘Orinoco Flow’ standing out as a whimsical and unique hit that propelled the album to sell 11 million copies. By the early 2000s, she had become one of the world’s leading female solo artists.
Her track ‘Only Time’ gained an unexpected resurgence when CNN used it to score the devastating footage of the 9/11 tragedy in New York. The song became emblematic of mourning, was re-released for charity, and cemented her popularity in America, despite Enya never having toured solo.
Enya’s private life is as intriguing as her music; she purchased Manderley Castle in 1997 for £2.5 million and transformed it into a secluded sanctuary. A local told The Sun: “You wouldn’t even know there was anyone there most of the time.”
Romance has taken a back seat for Enya, who once said: “After a bad day in the studio I’m dark and difficult to be with. I want and need to be on my own. What sort of man would be able to adapt?” She finds solace in her art, saying, “My affairs are with melody and words and beautiful sounds. People think it sounds sad,” but she assures, “but believe me, I’m happy. I am my music.”
The life of the enigmatic Enya has been marked by unsettling encounters with obsessives, including an Italian stalker in 1996 who pursued her relentlessly, turning up at her family’s Donegal pub adorned with her photo and turning to self-harm upon ejection. Another hair-raising episode in 2005 saw an intruder breach her castle, binding a housemaid whilst hunting for the songstress — Enya secured herself in a panic room during the ordeal.
Consequently, she has stepped back from fan engagement and public events.
Her reclusive existence extends to her home life in a castle accompanied by numerous feline friends, once numbering as many as 12. Even her own uncle once remarked on her secluded demeanour: “She lives like a queen. She is a recluse.”
Nonetheless, Enya remains an illustrious figure in music with four Grammy Awards, an Oscar nod for her work on The Lord of the Rings soundtrack, and has left her indelible mark on the hip hop world with samples in tracks like The Fugees’ ‘Ready or Not’, and more recently Metro Boomin and The Weeknd’s 2022 smash ‘Creepin’, stemming from her haunting ‘Boadicea’ hum from 1987.
Interestingly, Enya played an active role in shaping her latest musical influence, contributing her insight to the naming process for ‘Creepin’. She sifted through various proposed titles – dismissing ‘IDWK’, ‘Undecided’, ‘Wanna Let You Know’ amongst others – imparting her stamp of approval on what Metro Boomin called “the best name for it”.
The enigmatic nature of Enya’s personal life has left music industry professionals in awe, as they’ve had to adapt launch events to suit her preferences, such as favouring large groups over individual interviews.
Despite this, her allure continues to grow. Since 2019, her social media platforms have been buzzing with updates, remastered videos, vinyl reissues and digital celebrations.
Her official YouTube channel has even undergone a 4K update, and her mystical music continues to captivate new generations.
Enya’s legacy is truly unique. She holds the title of the best-selling Irish solo artist of all time, has a minor planet – 6433 Enya – named after her, a fish species in the Orinoco River named Leporinus enyae, and she boasts two honorary doctorates.
All this while maintaining her privacy and tranquillity.
“I don’t like anybody else’s opinion” she once declared. “It’s not a hanging offence not wanting to go to nightclubs. What happened to choice?”.