The Corrs

Introduction

The Corrs are an Irish quartet made up of three sisters and a brother. Jim, Andrea, Caroline and Sharon formed the band in 1990 and since then have not looked back. Their music is a fusion of modern rock and traditional Irish music, making a stirring and unique combination.

Jim Corr plays guitars and keyboards, Sharon plays the violin, Caroline plays the drums and bodhran and Andrea plays the tin whistle as well as being the lead singer. Jim, Sharon and Caroline all sing backing vocals and each song is written and developed by the group as a whole.

The Early Days

The Corrs grew up in Dundalk, Ireland which is situated 50 miles north of Dublin and is right on the border of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The Corrs were a very musical family, their parents being musicians, and as Andrea explains, there was always a lot of music in the house...

After only being a band for a short period, John Hughes, their future manager discovered them whilst looking for musicians to take part in Alan Parker's film, The Commitments. The group became friends with John and accepted his invitation to perform in Dublin for part of a special The Commitments live concert. Not much later, The Corrs were lucky enough to have the U.S. Ambassador to Ireland, Jean Kennedy Smith hear them in a small club in Dublin. Smith then invited the group to play in Boston as part of a World Cup celebration.

The Corrs were in America and their popularity was growing but they were yet to be signed...

Being Signed

The Senior Vice President for Atlantic Records, Jason Flom became very interested in the group and thus suggested that they meet with Atlantic Vice President, successful producer and 12-time Grammy winner, David Foster. Unfortunately, Foster was working with Michael Jackson at the time, and security made it impossible to meet even though Foster agreed to negotiate. The Corrs then took it upon themselves to be signed...

The Corrs arrived at Atlantic Records in Manhattan in mid-July totally un-announced. They waited in the waiting room for their chance to see Foster, and they were lucky enough to catch him right at the fulfilment of his commitments to Jackson. The group were invited into the studio to play and played live for Foster who was enthralled. After hearing what was no doubt a breath-taking presentation, Foster reportedly said : « Out of ten, I give you a ten... no, a ten plus »

Since then The Corrs have not looked back as their popularity has sky-rocketed.

Their Gigs

The group's premier tour of the world began in Ireland and continued into nine other European countries as well as Canada, America (where they played with Celine Dion), Australia and South-East Asia. There most memorable performances have been at the Odense Festival of Denmark where they played in front of 35,000 and at London's Fishbury park with Sting and the Chieftans in front 50,000.

The Corrs have also performed on American TV's CBS This Morning, NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien and Good Morning America as well as FOX's Beverly Hills 90210. The Corrs also performed on Australian TV and radio whilst touring there.

Andrea Corr had a small role in Alan Parker's 1991 movie, The Commitments and will also appear in Parker's eagerly awaited Evita (starring Madonna).

Forgiven Not Forgotten

The Corrs' debut album, Forgiven Not Forgotten is a consistently brilliant showcase of the group's talents. Each track maintains an extremely high standard of music as well as having a very polished feel to it. Their songs range from simple love-ballads to up-front philosophical statements to stunning instrumental pieces.

The album is a joint Lava Records and 143 Records release (143 being Foster's Atlantic-distributed spin-off label and Lava being Flom's). David Foster produced it with Jim Corr co-producing, and it was mixed by Bob Clearmountain. All the music was written by The Corrs with David Foster assisting with the writing of "Someday".

Forgiven Not Forgotten has gone gold in Canada and Australia, Platinum in Denmark and an amazing four-times platinum in Ireland. The album is also closing in on gold in Japan.

The Corrs' debut album can be described as simply stunning and as a brilliant showcase of this talented young group's imaginative music. We can be sure that The Corrs are busy at work on a second album, and eagerly await it's release...

«The Irish have a lot of hope, despite all of the troubles they have gone through over the years. They've always know how to laugh and have fun. That's where the tradition of up-tempo Irish music and dancing comes from. But there's that mystical haunting sound as well, which I think reflects the Irish environment... when you get up first thing in the morning, there is literally a mist surrounding everything. Our music is influenced by our environment, and we play what we feel.» Sharon Corr