{"id":14017,"date":"2023-12-03T09:59:12","date_gmt":"2023-12-03T04:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/the-corrs-journey-from-rejection-to-fame-through-music-and-family-bond-music-entertainment\/"},"modified":"2023-12-03T09:59:12","modified_gmt":"2023-12-03T04:29:12","slug":"the-corrs-journey-from-rejection-to-fame-through-music-and-family-bond-music-entertainment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/the-corrs-journey-from-rejection-to-fame-through-music-and-family-bond-music-entertainment\/","title":{"rendered":"The Corrs’ journey: from rejection to fame through music and family bond | Music | Entertainment"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Corrs’ journey: from rejection to fame through music and family bond (Image: Getty)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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They were playing dates in the States by invitation of Jean Kennedy Smith, the US Ambassador to Ireland.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we were there, our manager John Hughes, suggested we just turn up at David Foster\u2019s recording session in New York,\u201d Sharon, the eldest of the three Corr sisters, recalls, her green eyes sparkling.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we did.\u00a0We pitched up and said, \u2018We\u2019re here to see David Foster.\u2019 The receptionist presumed we had a meeting…\u201d<\/p>\n

Producer and music executive Foster was impressed by the band\u2019s chutzpah and blown away by their enchanting blend of traditional Irish folk and pop sensibilities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe went to the studio upstairs, got around the piano and did a couple of songs for him. A couple of days later, we were signed to Atlantic Records,\u201d says Sharon, with a grin.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The luck of the Irish? Or fortune favouring the brave?<\/p>\n

That gamble turned the family band from Dundalk, Ireland, into household names.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Corrs went on to sell more than 40million albums; their string of magical hit singles peaked with 2000’s global smash Breathless featuring lead singer Andrea\u2019s distinctive mini-yodel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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She co-wrote the song with producer Mutt Lange, then married to Shania Twain, who said she had \u201cthe best pop voice in the world right now\u201d.<\/p>\n

The four siblings \u2013 Caroline, Andrea, Sharon and their brother Jim \u2013 had formed The Corrs in 1990 when Andrea was 15; the same year that she filmed her part in The Commitments.<\/p>\n

Nine years later were playing to 45,000 people in Dublin\u2019s Lansdowne Road Stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the \u2018pinch-me\u2019 moment for all of us was selling out Wembley Arena for three nights in a row in 2000,\u201d says violinist and pianist Sharon, 53.\u00a0\u201cI remember getting on stage, thinking, wow and saying to Andrea \u2018Pinch yourself now!\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIt was a high-pressure time, constant touring and promos. I think our greatest success is that we all still talk to each other! It\u2019s a difficult thing to achieve, especially when you\u2019re younger and there\u2019s a family pecking order.”<\/p>\n

\u201cThe key is to respect each other\u2019s differences and not expect to agree on everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the time they hit the pause button on their career in 2006, they\u2019d performed for Her Majesty the Queen and Nelson Mandela, and been awarded MBEs for their charity work.<\/p>\n

Drummer Caroline, 50, recalls hearing their 1998 hit Dreams \u201con Radio One in the back of a London taxi and thinking, \u2018That\u2019s cool \u2013 that\u2019s us!\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cA couple of months later we played with the Rolling Stones in front of 90,000 people, in Germany\u2026so many special moments.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a whirlwind,\u201d says Andrea, 49. \u201cWhen you\u2019re in it it\u2019s hard to see anything. It\u2019s like a speeding train. Looking back it was extraordinary\u2026just non-stop amazing experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

At one point they played four continents in three weeks. They toured America with the Stones and U2 \u2013 Bono said the Corrs \u201ccould drink Oasis under the table\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cBono is very good with his one-liners,\u201d smiles Caroline. \u201cThe Corrs always had a clean image, but we definitely enjoyed a drink\u2026as any touring band would…\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    Sharon recalls: \u201cWe have years of on-the-road stories. We\u2019d do anything. Early on we had to play in somebody\u2019s back garden in San Diego because a guy wanted to propose to his girlfriend.\u201d<\/p>\n

    At Christmas, 1997, they played the Vatican. \u201cAll the artists were waiting around all day backstage, and I kept being told \u2018There\u2019s no need to get ready yet\u2019,\u201d says Sharon.<\/p>\n

    \u201cAnd then, suddenly, it was \u2018You\u2019re on now!\u2019 I was in such a rush, I put my dress on backwards and ran on stage. I\u2019m pretty sure a lot of leg was revealed to the front row of cardinals.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    \u201cAnother time in Pamplona, Spain, we came out of the hotel and were met by hundreds of screaming girls. We thought, \u2018There must be a band staying here\u2019 and then we realised it was us!\u201d<\/p>\n

    It was a long way from their industrial home town of Dundalk, in Louth, Eire. \u201cIt\u2019s a regular Irish town, there\u2019s music in all the bars and great musicians. It\u2019s part of the Irish heritage,\u201d says Sharon.<\/p>\n

    Their late parents \u2013 Jerry, an accountant at the electricity supply board, and Jean, a stay-at-home mum until her 40s \u2013 performed all over the country in their band, Sound Affair.<\/p>\n

    Sharon recalls, \u201cTheir love of life, of each other and of making music was incredible. Mum started singing with dad after Andrea was born, so I was four when they started; when I was a bit older dad used to take me with him.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    \u201cI saw them play a couple of times,\u201d says Andrea. \u201cThey did covers and they were really good, but as a child I was more interested in the peanuts and crisps\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

    Brother Jim, 59, was \u201cthe initiator\u201d, says Caroline, the one who cajoled them into rehearsing while she and Andrea were still at school.<\/p>\n

    \u201cWe had a lot of influences which we accidentally combined \u2013 pop, rock, and traditional music. It made us feel different and fresh.”<\/p>\n

    \u201cWe toured relentlessly for 15years. There was friction and not much individual autonomy, but we were so young, we didn\u2019t take ourselves so seriously. We communicate better now \u2013 I\u2019m lucky to be part of this.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    Their individual influences vary. For Sharon, it\u2019s Joni Mitchell, for Caroline it\u2019s Prince and The Cure, for Jim, it\u2019s the Police.<\/p>\n

    “Joni Mitchell was a huge influence on me,” says Sharon. “I really relate to what she does, and the truthfulness of her songwriting. The truth is relatable. She changed the way music was written. Lyrics became intensely important were true to what she was trying to say. Also, I was a major Police fan.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

    Caroline: “I\u00a0was crazy into the Cure at school. They were so huge at the time. I adored Prince as well and the Police before that, but The Cure’s melodies were iconic, so memorable,\u00a0and so was\u00a0the way they dressed. Robert Smith had it.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    Sharon taught herself the piano but was classically trained on the violin by a local priest, who founded the Dundalk Youth Orchestra.<\/p>\n

    Their first hit Runaway, from their multi-platinum debut album, Forgiven, Not Forgotten, was entirely unexpected.<\/p>\n

    \u201cIt wasn\u2019t intended to be on the album until David Foster heard us play it and said it had to be,\u201d says Sharon. \u201cThe audience response when we did it live was gigantic, they\u2019d sing it word for word. It made you well up.\u201d<\/p>\n

    As their fame soared, raven-haired Andrea was dubbed \u2018the most beautiful woman in the world\u2019 \u2013 a slur, surely on her equally photogenic sisters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    \u201cI was shocked,\u201d she admits. \u201cI certainly wasn\u2019t feeling like it deep down.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Sharon says: \u201cGod knows what it\u2019s like now. We were lucky we were before social media.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Even so, Andrea found fame \u201ca bit overwhelming, because of the aesthetics of it; people focused on what you look like and that\u2019s not healthy. It felt like everywhere there were mirrors, it made me feel self-conscious.<\/p>\n

    \u201cI was very shy about that exposure. The music was the point.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    And it was the music that made them special. At a time when pop was riddled with manufactured, auto-tuned nuisances, the Corrs made authentic original music written and played on old-school instruments, including whistles, fiddles and bodhrans.<\/p>\n

    Caroline recalls their MTV Unplugged show \u2013 \u201cWow, that was a dream, to play our songs, acoustically and be filmed beautifully and to made a record of that\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

    Sharon: \u201cWe were immersed in music \u2013 we all play, all write; the talent was in there passed down by our parents.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    In 2015, the Corrs performed at their father\u2019s funeral and released their life-affirming come-back album White Light.<\/p>\n

    Their latest,\u00a0Best Of The Corrs, has all their hits plus three Fleetwood Mac songs freshly recorded in tribute to the late Christine McVie and produced by Guy Chambers. It\u2019s their first album since 2017\u2019s Jupiter Calling.<\/p>\n

    \u201cRecording songs for\u00a0Christine was beautiful way to get us back into the studio,\u201d says Sharon.<\/p>\n

    The Corrs have just toured southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand supported by Natalie Imbruglia. \u201cA brilliant time,\u201d says Caroline. \u201cWe had so much fun with Natalie.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    Will there be more recordings, more shows?<\/p>\n

    \u201cWe\u2019d love to do a UK tour,\u201d enthuses Caroline.<\/p>\n

    \u201cI\u2019d say watch this space,\u201d says Sharon. \u201cWe\u2019re planning more tours, each of us separately and us together. We\u2019re always writing\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

    *Best Of The Corrs is out now as a 2xLP gold vinyl and an expanded 2 CD collection.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n[ad_2]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    [ad_1] The Corrs’ journey: from rejection to fame through music and family bond (Image: Getty) They were playing dates in the States by invitation of Jean Kennedy Smith, the US Ambassador to Ireland.\u00a0 \u201cWhile we were there, our manager John Hughes, suggested we just turn up at David Foster\u2019s recording session in New York,\u201d Sharon, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14019,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[766],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14017"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}