The Corrs - Full Biography

A House Filled With Love For Music

The Corrs' parents Jean and Gerry were musicians themselves, playing in a band called "Sound Affair" during the nights. They were quite a success in their hometown Dundalk and beyond and absolutely loved what they were doing, though they still had their normal day jobs.

It was one of their unfulfilled dreams to "make it" as a band, and that is partly also why they have always encouraged their four children Andrea, Caroline, Sharon and Jim in their musical development. All of them started to play the piano at a very young age. Jim recalls that he started to bang the keys as soon as he was big enough to reach them, and his sisters followed him soon. They are also inspired by what their parents listened to - Mary Black for example.

The Commitments

The idea of forming a band with his sisters never occured to Jim before "The Commitments" and with it John Hughes came along. In 1991, Andrea and Caroline were still teenage girls and in school, Sharon was working in a record shop and Jim had gone to Dublin to earn his living as a session musician there. He heard of Alan Parker's movie and thought about auditioning, but he also asked whether he could bring his sisters along.

So the four of them performed two cover versions for the audition, which however at first didn't land them the success they wanted. Andrea got a small role with a few lines out of it, the rest of her siblings can be hardly spotted in the finished movie. But all was not lost because the film's music coordinator, John Hughes, had seen the yet unnamed band and taken a liking in them.

A Real Band

Hughes decided that he wanted to manage the hopeful young talents, and soon the four Corrs started to rehearse as a band for real. Older and more experienced brother Jim rented a house not far from their home and transformed it into a makeshift studio with egg cartons for sound proofing and pan sieves as microphone filters. Caroline assumes people were already wondering what the Corrs' children were the heck doing in that cold place all the time.

They tried out everything, from traditional Irish music to contemporary pieces, with, as Jim mentions, "disastrous results". But slowly, through their own interpretations of traditional tunes among others, the Corrs' sound was emerging.

Since no money was coming in from rehearsing alone and Jim had moved back to Dundalk, robbing him of the earnings he had as a session musician, he and Sharon had to work. They founded the band "Jim & Sharon", which managed to get them by for the time being.

Out In The Open

After long periods of rehearsal, the first ever gig was planned. The chosen location was the Dublin pub "The Waterfront", and for emotional support, lots of friends and relatives were invited and instructed to have a bloody good time. Perhaps surprisingly, the crowd didn't need to be told to enjoy themselves, the band alone made the evening worthwhile. Nevertheless, the hopes for a record deal were not fulfilled - yet.

More local gigs followed, this time at "Whelan's", another pub in Dublin. And this time, luck was on the Corrs' side: the American ambassador to Ireland, Jean Kennedy-Smith, attended this night's performance and was smittten. She invited the band back to the USA, more precisely to play in Boston at the JFK library for the Soccer World Cup of 1994.

The Chance Of A Lifetime

Not having to be told twice to take this chance, the Corrs were on a plane only little later and flew over the great pond. After their successful performance in Boston, they tried on some other occasions to get a record company interested in them - in vain.

Among others, they knocked at the door of Atlantic Records, where finally somebody was listening. Jason Flom, a manager, wanted them to meet famous producer David Foster but couldn't get him on the line. What had seemed so hopeful was rapidly turning into another disappointment when it seemed impossible to arrange a meeting.

But John Hughes somehow found out that Foster was in New York at the time, recording Michael Jackson's "History" album. Since it was the Corrs' last day in the United States anyway, they thought it couldn't hurt to try this last opportunity.

Let's Shop For A Record Deal

Foster was at the "Hit Factory" studios, and so Hughes shipped the "glammed up" girls to the door and hoped the bouncers would let them in. When asked, he bluffed by simply stating that they were here to see Foster, and to their surprise, it worked.

Nervously performing "Love To Love You", "Closer" and "Forgiven Not Forgiven" as a small "appetizer", the Corrs managed with just three songs to blow Foster away. He signed them right away to Atlantic, 143 and Lava Records - the long-awaited record deal was finally under the band's belt.

The Debut Album

"Forgiven Not Forgotten", the Corrs' debut album produced by Foster, was a huge hit worldwide, thanks largely to the band playing literally everywhere to promote it. This earned them the title of "the hardest working band", which is definitely not exaggerated considering they performed in two different countries on one day, and also had an insane schedule leading them from Ireland to Australia to London and back to Australia in a mere week.

The Second Album

It was just a matter of time until the second album was recorded, this time not only with Foster as producer but a whole bunch of people involved. As Jim notes, a producer is extremely important for the band's sound and he has to stay true to the musician's vision of what they want their music to sound like. Working with so many people makes the creation of a consistent sound much more difficult, which is why Caroline does not advocate repeating the process.

Caroline had also just started learn the drums properly, which is why "Talk On Corners" was recorded with her only playing the bodhrán.

"Talk On Corners" was also intended to break some markets which had inexplicably remained unaffected by the Corrs' music, such as the UK, where the band received no radio airplay whatsoever. In an attempt to change this, John Hughes rented the Royal Albert Hall in London, convinced the BBC to broadcast the performance and even got Mick Fleetwood from Fleetwood Mac to appear as a guest on the show. The broadcast was a phenomenal success even though the first three minutes were without sound - which is kind of vital, considering it was a concert that was shown.

Dreams

Things really started to look up when the band was invited to record a cover version of Fleetwood Mac's song "Dreams" for a tribute album called "Legacy: A tribute to Fleetwood Mac's Rumours". The first recording however sounded too much like the original, which is why they handed the song over to producer Oliver Leiber who added the dance rhythm. Tee's radio remix finally broke the charts and climbed up to position #6, while lifting the second edition of "Talk On Corners" including "Dreams" to #1 in the album charts.

"Talk On Corners" was hugely successful all over the globe, earning the band multiple times platinum in many countries and selling over 9 million copies worldwide. The following "Special Edition" with remixes of some tracks helped lift the debut "Forgiven Not Forgotten" back in the album charts, where they occupied the #1 and #2 simultanously - the Corrs were the success story of 1998.

Lansdowne Road

After a long tour covering almost all continents (Caroline about the tour: "We were out on the road for like ever!"), the Corrs returned to Ireland with a triumphant concert in Dublin, at the Lansdowne Road Stadium on July 17th, 1999. Playing to a crowd of over 40,000 people is one of the greatest memories the Corrs can recall, with Sharon saying she was basically "not really there" because it was so overwhelming. Lansdowne Road will always be special to the band as it was not only a fantastic performance but also a very warm welcoming for them.

Playing Unplugged

Later that same year, on October 5th, the Corrs recorded their first unplugged album in co-operation with MTV Ireland. Accompanied by the Irish Film Orchestra, they performed a set full of old and new songs to a happy audience of 200 people. The recording was released as a CD and on video, both very successful (album sales are about 3.5 million worldwide). Featuring tracks from "Forgiven Not Forgotten" and "Talk on Corner" plus previously unreleased material, "Unplugged" managed to pull both aforementioned albums back in the charts.

A Family Tragedy

The good news about "Unplugged" however faded soon away when the Corrs' mother Jean, who had been diagnosed with an extremely rare lung desease (called Cryptogenic Fibrosing Alveolitis) a few years previously, suddenly died. She had been waiting for a lung transplant in the Newcastle Freeman hospital, but her illness deterioated so badly that she passed away within a week. She closed her eyes forever during the night of November 24th / 25th at the age of 57.

As Jim recalls, "She was our biggest fan", and Gerry says she used to collect every single newspaper clipping she could get her hands on, putting them in boxes which now fill his attic. She and her husband have always been supportive of their children's career, and the Corrs are glad that their Mommy could still witness the beginning of their huge success.

Trying To Cope With Music

This sudden loss left the Corrs and their father devastated, but life had to go on. Being in the middle of recording a new album, the band tried to express their grieve through music, which is most notably in the song "No More Cry". It was written by Andrea and Caroline for their Dad Gerry, hoping it would help him to cope with the tragic death of his wife.

Jean's death has been an important issue in the Corrs music ever since, with songs like "Angel" or "Goodbye" keeping her memory very much alive.

Says Andrea, "It's quite funny, because you don't set out to write a song about that particularly, about something like that. But what you can't help but do when music is inspiring you is write about something you care very deeply about." She mentioned that singing these songs in a concert has a kind of "kathartic" effect on her.

In Blue

Despite having to endure such a huge loss, the Corrs released their album "In Blue" as planned in July 2000. Unlike "Talk On Corners", only very few producers worked on it, namely just Mitchell Froom and Robert J. "Mutt" Lange. Lange co-wrote "Breathless", which turned out to be the biggest hit ever for the Corrs. The album itself sold like hot cakes and reached #1 in many countries worldwide.

"In Blue" marked a more mature and adult image for the Corrs, who were coming of age with the album. Andrea says that the first memory when talking about "In Blue" will always be the loss of their mother.

The album was also yet another attempt to make an impact on the American market, which was tackled by numerous appearances on TV shows like "Rosie O'Donnell", "Good Morning America", "The View" and many more. Alas this strategy didn't work out, so that the U.S. is the one - and only! - market worldwide which has not succumbed to the Corrs' charms.

A Long Break

After "In Blue" it seemed as if the Corrs had disappeared from view. 2001 just saw the release of a "Best Of" album, which made some fans believe the end of the band was near. Those speculations were completely unwarranted though, as all that kept the band from recording new material was their private life. As Caroline notes, "We needed focus". Years of recording, promoting, touring and then the same routine over and over again had worn the Corrs down to a point where they desperately needed a break.

Sharon took the opportunity to get married to her fiance Gavin Bonnar in July 2001, as did Caroline: she wed her long-time boyfriend Frank Woods a year later, in August 2002. The happy couple could announce the birth of their first child, a boy called Jake, in February 2003.

The third sister Andrea looked a bit more into acting, and thus appeared in a range of movies, from "The Boys and Girl from County Clare" to "The Bridge". She met her boyfriend Shaun Evan on the set of the first film. Jim used the spare time to devote his time to a long-held dream of his: becoming a helicopter pilot.

Between all this marrying and flying, another unplugged album was recorded and then released in the U.S. only, called "Live In Dublin". It featured high profile guests such as Bono from U2 and Ronnie Wood from the Rolling Stones and was determined to break the American market, what the band had been trying to do for years. "Live In Dublin" garnered some honorary mentions, but still didn't make the Corrs a household name in America.

The Comeback

Four years had passed since the last "real" studio album had been released, but the grapevine was already buzzing that there would be another CD soon. Then finally in summer 2004, "Borrowed Heaven" was released but didn't do so well in the charts. Apparently the Corrs had lost some of their initial appeal, leaving the CD sales miles behind their previous succcesses. Still they played to happy audiences during the "Borrowed Heaven" world tour, which opened in Bonn, Germany, of all places.

Overall, "Borrowed Heaven" follows the approach of using as little producers as possible, in this case only Olle Romo. He had been working with "Mutt" Lange who recommended him to the Corrs, and after they heard what he had achieved with the demo tape they had sent him, they chose to hire him for the album.

The title track "Borrowed Heaven" is a collaboration with South African group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, whom the Corrs had met when performing in Capetown for the "46664" Nelson Mandela concert. While performing the traditional song "Lelilungelo Elakho" together, the two bands came up with the idea of joining forces for the very spiritual track for the Corrs' album, and so recorded it instantly.

Touring was underway when Caroline announced her second pregnancy, which lead to some re-arranging in the schedule. For large parts of autumn 2004 and further on in the new year, Caroline stayed at home and was replaced by Jason Duffy behind the drums. She gave birth to her daughter Georgina in October 2004 and didn't take up drumming again till way over a year later.

Jason is one of the two new musicians the Corrs have hired to support them on stage, the other being Kieran Kiely. Though some fans feel the stage is too crowded now with eight people on it, the new additions were necessary to relieve especially Jim from some of his stressfull duties.

Home

Just one year after "Borrowed Heaven", the band's fifth studio album was released. Called "Home", it features cover versions of traditional Irish songs and some contemporary ones as well. It was Caroline who suggested to record this CD, citing the fans' wishes for more of that "traditional stuff" as an inspiration. Having grown up with those songs themselves and also since they have been an integral part of every concert, it seemed like a logical step to do it.

"Home" did really well in sales considering the Corrs have repeatedly stressed they do not worry about the financial success of it: "It's a love child", says Jim, and Andrea adds, "I love the whole album!".

The Future

There were no definite plans to tour made, and those were completely put to rest by the good news in spring 2006: Sharon had given birth to a baby boy called Cal. Jim on the other hand became a father in May 2006 of a boy as well, who is called Brandon. With family life now a top priority to all of them, it remains to be seen what we can expect in the coming years.

Andrea has tried herself as a solo artist in 2007 with mixed results. Her album "Ten Feet High" was not a big success except in her home country Ireland and in Spain, so it remains to be seen whether she will record a second one or continue her musical career with her family.

"We love what we're doing, and we'll go on for as long as we possibly can", reaffirms Jim, "Until we decide we'll call it a day, but that's not for a long time I think."