Andrea Corr

Andrea Corr
Andrea Corr performing at Glastonbury 1999.
Background information
Birth name	Andrea Jane Corr
Born	17 May 1974 (1974-05-17) (age 36)
Origin	Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland
Genres	Pop, Rock, Celtic
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, actress
Instruments	Tin whistle, vocals, piano
Years active	1990–present
Labels	Atlantic
Associated acts	The Corrs
Website	www.AndreaCorr.co.uk

Andrea Jane Corr, MBE (Irish: Aindréa Sinéad Ó Corra; born 17 May 1974) is an Irish musician, songwriter and actress. Corr debuted in 1990 as the lead singer of the Celtic folk rock and pop rock group The Corrs along with her three siblings Caroline, Sharon, and Jim. Aside from singing lead vocals Corr plays the tin whistle and the piano.^[1]

With the others, Corr has released five studio albums, two compilation albums, one remix album and two live albums. The Corrs are currently on hiatus because Sharon, Jim and Caroline are raising their children, while Andrea is pursuing a solo career, releasing her debut album, Ten Feet High, in 2007.^[2][3] The album moved away from the folk-rock genre of the Corrs and features a darker edgier dance-pop sound.^[4]

Corr is involved in charitable activities. She has played charity concerts to raise money for the Pavarotti & Friends Liberian Children's Village, Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, the victims of the Omagh bombing in Northern Ireland and The Prince's Trust in 2004.^[5][6][7][8] She is an ambassador for the Nelson Mandela's "46664" campaign, raising awareness towards AIDS in Africa.^[9] During the Edinburgh Live 8 on 2 July 2005 the Corrs performed "When the Stars Go Blue" alongside Bono to promote the Make Poverty History campaign.^[10] She received an honorary MBE for her contribution to music and charity in 2005.^[11][12]

Early years

Andrea Corr was born to Gerry Corr, a manager of the payroll department of the Irish Electricity Board, and his wife, Jean, a homemaker.^[13] They raised their family in Dundalk, Ireland.^[14] Gerry and Jean had their own band, Sound Affair, which played songs by ABBA and The Eagles in local pubs where they would often bring along their children.^[15][16]

With the encouragement of her parents, Andrea Corr took up the tin whistle^[17] and was taught the piano by their father.^[1] Throughout their teenage years, she and her siblings would often practice in Jim's bedroom at a house he had rented. Andrea sang lead vocals, Sharon played the violin and both Caroline and Jim played keyboards.^[18] Andrea Corr took part in school plays at her school, Dundalk's Dun Lughaidh convent.^[19]

1990-2006

In 1990 she and her siblings formed a quartet called the Corrs.^[20] Their career launched in 1991 when they auditioned for the film The Commitments where Andrea got a speaking role as Sharon Rabbitte.^[21] John Hughes noticed the quartet when they auditioned for the movie, and agreed to become their manager.^[22] The Corrs signed with Atlantic Records in 1995 and travelled to North America to record their debut album Forgiven, Not Forgotten. The album featured six instrumental selections among its Celtic-influenced tracks. When released, it was successful in Ireland, Australia, Japan, and Spain. The album reached platinum status in the United Kingdom and Australia, and quadruple platinum in Ireland, which made it one of the most popular debuts by an Irish group.^{[23][24][25][26]}

Andrea helped write and played the tin whistle in Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On for the 1997 film Titanic.

Following the success of their debut album, the Corrs' released Talk On Corners and In Blue in 1997 and 2000 respectively.^[27] Talk on Corners was met with lukewarm success but when a remix version was released, it topped the charts in many countries, and reached platinum status in the United Kingdom and Australia.^[28][29] In Blue moved towards mainstream pop, placing heavy emphasis on electronic synthesisers. It was successful, and was #1 in its first sales week in the UK, Ireland, Australia, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria and debuted at #2 in France and Norway. It climbed to the top position during its second week in Sweden and Spain.^[30]

During the production of In Blue, Corr's mother, Jean, died while waiting for a lung transplant in Freeman Hospital, Newcastle.^[31] She was laid to rest at St. Patrick's cemetery in Dundalk. Bono, Larry Mullen, Brian Kennedy and Paul Brady were among the funeral's attendees.^[32] "No More Cry", written by Andrea and Caroline Corr for the album, was dedicated to their father to help with his grief.^[33]

In 2003, Corr recorded "Time Enough For Tears", a song written by Bono and Gavin Friday for the film In America.^[34] This track was featured on the Corrs' 2004 album Borrowed Heaven.^[35] Borrowed Heaven was dedicated to their late mother, Jean, and their father, Gerry.^[36] The band also dedicated their 2005 tribute album Home to their deceased mother.^[37] The band covered many traditional Irish songs taken from their mother's songbook to commemorate their 15 years as a band.^[38][39][40]

Solo career

While her siblings were on hiatus to raise their families, Andrea launched a solo career. She released her first album, Ten Feet High, on 25 June 2007. It was produced by Nellee Hooper, who has worked with Gwen Stefani and Madonna; Bono was an executive producer.^[41] Her first single, "Shame on You (to Keep My Love from Me)" was an up-tempo pop song about men and women going to war and leaving behind partners they may never see again.^[42] It received positive reviews from music critics; IndieLondon described the song as a "slick package" that was "polished, well produced and with a message that's difficult to ignore".^[42] Losing Today's David Adair gave the song a strong review, writing that Corr's vocals were "crisp and uplifting".^[43] Liverpool's Daily Post gave the song a three-star rating, commenting that it was "deceptively upbeat", which masked its "heavier message about conscription and war".^[44]

On 10 April 2009 Andrea announced On Claudia Winkleman's BBC Radio 2 show she would be releasing a second album of old songs and covers, she also spoke of her disappointment and how 'gutted' she had been when her 2007 album Ten Feet High had failed to gain commercial success. She also spoke at length of her experiences while acting in the play Dancing At Lughnasa and how it has given her hope for upcoming projects, including a second solo album of 'old songs':

I loved the play; I saw its original production when I was a teenager so I really worked hard on it and tried to dispel any prejudices that might be there. I'm sensitive about the idea of a singer-turned-actress, it could give across the impression that a celebrity gets bored and goes "hey, what'll I do" and that's really not where I'm coming from, I'm very passionate about this and I have been for a lot of years. It's a totally different experience, this is the real thing. Fortunately everybody (in the play) is incredibly talented (and) really lovely people too and it has been an incredible learning experience for me.
It's not my responsibility to draw (the audience) in, I just have to play the character. The way I would perform songs was always about the lyrics and always about trying to speak to everybody and make them watch and believe what I'm saying and I suppose I'm essentially doing that here but I'm not looking at the audience I'm obviously looking at the other actors.
I'm really happy to do this. I feel rejuvenated by it, I feel excited again. You're very much alive, you're very much in the moment, so I feel I'm really living.
After I released my solo record I felt really disappointed, I believed in the record I made but if you don't have the back-up of your record company investing and marketing it. It's a really tough job and because I wrote the whole thing I really believed in this record, as did Nellee Hooper, I was jaded and disappointed. Last year I decided I'm not doing music until I'm excited again, then this came along and also I did end up making another record which I'll release at some point. It's just being mastered, it's a lovely album; I didn't write this one, this is old songs and I have to sort out my situation- I don't want the same problem as before. I think everybody's enjoyed doing their own thing. Sharon and Caroline are young mothers, they have young children. Our mother and father were really were great parents and they hope to be as good a mother as mine, but Sharon's making her own record and will hopefully release it at some point. But we (the band) never finished, we'll keep it open.'

Acting career

Andrea Corr entered the film industry in 1991 with Alan Parker's film, The Commitments where she had a speaking part as Sharon Rabbitte.^[21] In 1996, Parker was directing the film version of the rock opera Evita which starred Madonna. He was so keen on having Andrea in the film that he cast her as Juan Peron's mistress.^[45] Corr provided the singing voice for Kayley in Warner Brothers' first fully animated film, 1998's The Quest for Camelot.^[46]

Corr resumed her acting career in 2003 where she was cast as Anne in The Boys from County Clare. The film was not a commercial success, but she won the Film Discovery Jury Award for Best Actress in the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival and was nominated for Best Actress in the IFTA Awards. During the Corrs' hiatus she was featured in the 2005 film The Bridge and the 2006 film Broken Thread. Corr appeared as Christina in the play Dancing at Lughnasa staged at The Old Vic theatre in London from February until May 2009 .^[47]

Charitable activities

Andrea Corr and her siblings have played charity concerts to raise money for the Pavarotti & Friends Liberian Children's Village, Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, the victims of the Omagh bombing in Northern Ireland, and The Prince's Trust in 2004.^{[5][7][8][48]} They are also ambassadors for the Nelson Mandela's "46664" campaign, where they performed live to raise awareness towards AIDS in Africa.^[49] During the Edinburgh Live 8 on 2 July 2005 the Corrs performed "When the Stars Go Blue" alongside Bono to promote the Make Poverty History campaign.^[10] In recognition for their charity performances, the Corrs were made Honorary Members of the Order of the British Empire in 2005 by Queen Elizabeth II.^[50]

Corr also partook in a tribute single to the late member of The Dubliners Ronnie Drew. Called "The Ballad of Ronnie Drew."^[51] The song was released on 19 February 2008 and was performed by a number of famous Irish musicians. This included members of U2, Sinéad O'Connor Christy Dignam of Aslan, Robert Hunter of the Grateful Dead, who wrote the song, Kíla, Christy Moore, Moya Brennan, Shane MacGowan, Bob Geldof, Damien Dempsey, Gavin Friday, Iona Green, Jerry Fish, Paul Brady, Paddy Casey, Mick Pyro, Mundy, Chris de Burgh, Ronan Keating, Jack L, Eleanor Shanley, Mary Black, Declan O'Rourke, Mary Coughlan, Joe Elliott of Def Leppard The Dubliners themselves and The Chieftains. The single was written to originally include Ronnie himself but was changed to be a tribute to him as his health was declining. Proceeds from sale of the single went to The Irish Cancer Society at the request of Drew himself. The song was performed live on The Late Late Show aired by RTE Entertainment^[52] on 22 February with Ronnie Drew in attendance as an audience member, and entered the Irish Single Charts at #2.

Personal life

Corr is married to Brett Desmond, son of billionaire Dermot Desmond. They married in St Joseph's Church in Miltown Malbay, County Clare, Ireland on 21 August 2009^[53] Sharon Corr and Caroline Corr sang No Frontiers at the wedding, and Damien Dempsey, Sharon Shannon and Seamus Begley also performed on stage in the church as did Andrea herself.^[54]

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Filmography

References

Further reading

• Cornwell, Jane, The Corrs, London: Virgin Publishing Ltd. ISBN 185227-840-4
• Gaster, Paul, The Corrs: 'Corner To Corner, Andre Deutsch Ltd. ISBN 978-0233996349
• Nichols, Todd, The Corrs 'Their Music, Their Lives, Their Legacy, Blackhall Publishing Ltd. ISBN 9781842180310

External links

• Andrea Corr Official Website
• Andrea Corr Official MySpace
• The Corrs Official Website
• Disfrutaloscorrs.es