| Date of Birth: | 17 May 1974 |
| Instruments: | Tin whistle & Lead vocal |
| Worst Character: | I lose everything! |
| Like People Who: | Live life & are down to earth |
| Best Musical Experience: | Playing to 20,000 people - open air concert on West Coast of Ireland |
| Date of Birth: | 24 March 1970 |
| Instruments: | Violin |
| Bad Habits: | Not tellling! na na ni na na |
| Worst Character: | Dogmatism |
| Like People Who: | Are honest |
| Best Musical Experience: | Playing live anywhere is a wonderful experience |
| Date of Birth: | 17 March 1973 |
| Instruments: | Bodhran and drums |
| Bad Habits: | Pulling at my hair |
| Like People Who: | Are funny and charismatic |
| Best Musical Experience: | Cafe Orchestra - Playing in Dublin |
| Date of Birth: | 31 July 1968 |
| Instruments: | Keyboard and Guitar |
| Bad Habits: | Killing a once funny joke by telling it too many times |
| Worst Character: | Grumpiness due to extreme tiredness |
| Like People Who: | Focus on the positive in other people |
| Best Musical Experience: | Kicking off our world tour in Ireland to a mad screaming audience |
With their unique blend of contemporary and traditional Irish musics, Atlantic recording artists, the Corrs, have established themselves as true originals. On their long-awaited new Talk on Corners, the Dundalk, Ireland group, create a sound steeped in the tradition of their homeland, but invested with a vibrant and electric modern pop flavor. On tracks like the dramatic "Only When I Sleep", (co-written by the band with producer Oliver Lieber, the son of legendary songsmith Jerry Lieber) or the harmony-laden first single, "Dreams" (which also appears on Lava/Atlantic's "LEGACY: A TRIBUTE TO FLEETWOOD MAC'S RUMOURS"), the family Corr concoct a delightful and emotional music unlike any on today's popular scene.
As with their acclaimed 1995 debut, Forgiven, not Forgotten, the new album was helmed in part by fourteen-time Grammy Award-winning producer David Foster. "We feel he understands our music and the way we want our music to sound", Caroline says of the Corrs' musical mentor. "He's fantastic with vocals and harmonies. He always comes up with some other idea that you might not have thought of."
Foster was but one of a handful of producers to work with the Corrs on Talk on Corners. In their quest to add a fresh new attitude, the quartet opted to collaborate with a number of other well-known studio hitmakers. The list includes Glen Ballard (Alanis Morissette), Billy Steinberg (Madonna), Rick Nowells (Belinda Carlisle), and Jim Corr himself. For the album's big ballads' "I Never Loved You Anyway" and "Don't Say You Love Me" the band teamed up with one of pop's songwriting legends, Academy Award-winning lyricist Carole Bayer Sager.
"We just decided to try new things", Andrea says, "to match up with other people. It was all great fun."
"Each song is different," she continues, noting the record's lyrical themes. "There's love, life, tragedy, hope, dreams, fantasy. It's whatever the music inspires."
The striking Talk on Corners also sees a remarkable growth and significant change from Forgiven, not Forgotten, incorporating a more melancholy and adventurous tint to their musical palette.
"From all the performances we did on tour around the world," Andrea says, "we had developed in such a way that we wanted to be a little edgier."
"We learned an awful lot from being on stage," Jim adds, "so we made it slightly more guitar-oriented. It's a harder, rockier sound, but it still maintains the sound of the Corrs."
Highlights of the album include the dynamic "Queen of Hollywood" (whose lyric supplies Talk on Corners with its title), "Paddy McCarthy", a new instrumental that harkens back to the Corrs' folk roots, as well as a duet with the Chieftains on a Celtic version of Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing", replete with harp, fiddles, flutes, tin whiste, bodhran, and uillean pipes.
"They called us and asked us to do a song with them for their album," Caroline says of teaming with Paddy Maloney's renowned traditional Irish troupe. "It was (producer/manager) John Hughes' idea to ask them to do "Little Wing", and it turned out fantastic. They're great musicians. We just sat down together and just played."
Internationally, Talk on Corners continued the incredible streak of successes begun with the Corrs' debut. Forgiven, not Forgotten made a huge splash on a worldwide scale, racking up worldwide sales of nearly 2 million: certified gold in France, Canada, Norway, and Japan; double platinum in Spain, Denmark, and New Zealand; and an unprecedented eight-times platinum in Australia and Ireland (where it was one of the all-time best-selling debuts by a native recording group in the country's history). In less than six months, Talk on Corners had already logged sales of 1.1 million worldwide, and was still going strong. After debuting in the #1 spot on Ireland's pop chart, the album was certified six-times platinum, while in Spain, the double-platinum Talk on Corners had been in the Top 10 for more than two months.
The Corrs have made innumerable TV appearances around the globe, including: Kelly Live in Ireland; the U.K.'s Richard & Judy and Surprise Surprise (hosted by former British chart-topper and Beatles' pal, Cilla Black); and The Jose Carerras Gala in Germany; not to mention their performances on such American programs as Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Today, and CBS This Morning, along with a classic guest slot on Fox's popular nighttime soap opera, Beverly Hills 90210.
An aspiring actress in her spare time (of which there is very little), Andrea been increasingly involved in making movies. In Warner Bros.' first fully animated film, The Quest For Camelot, she serves as the singing voice of the heroine, Kayley (The film's Curb/Warner Sunset/Atlantic soundtrack features two new David Foster/Carole Bayer Sager-penned Corrs tracks: "On My Father's Wings" and Andrea's duet with country music superstar Bryan White, "Looking Through Your Eyes"). In addition, Andrea has now appeared in two films by director Alan Parker: The Commitments and Evita. In filming the latter, as Jim, Sharon, and Caroline escaped on a well-deserved vacation, Andrea flew to Budapest to portray Juan Peron's mistress.
"It was brilliant," Andrea says of working with the film's star, Madonna. "She was fantastic. I was nervous, but I just did my bit."
With their ever-growing fanbase in mind, the siblings have taken their show on the road, receiving standing ovations as support to such artists as Celine Dion and Michael Bolton, as well as on their own. An appearance before a crowd of 50,000 at 1996's big Fleadh festival in London's Finsbury Park with Sting and Van Morrison was a triumph, prompting The London "Times" to declare that "The Corrs took only forty minutes on the main stage to demonstrate why they are a good bet for stardom."
"It's our first priority," Sharon says of the Corrs live experience. "It's where you really reach your audience, where you really communicate with them. And as musicians, we just love playing."
With Talk on Corners, the Corrs were set to continue on their path towards bringing their unique brand of Celtic pop-rock to the rest of the known universe. Months had seen the group wowing capacity crowds in Australia/New Zealand, Japan, and of course, Europe. Among the highlights was a St. Patrick's Day show at London's Royal Albert Hall, a concert which was televised by the BBC and on America's Odyssey cable network. The sold-out show featured a special guest appearance by Fleetwood Mac founder Mick Fleetwood for a rendition of "Dreams".
The time came for the Corrs to bring their live magic to North America. The group spent part of the spring and early summer as part of the annual Guinness Fleadh roadshow, a festival tour that united U.S. and British folk artists, rootsy rock 'n' rollers, and country & western combos with practitioners of traditional (and not-so-traditional) Irish music.
In 1998, The Corrs released a revised version of the worldwide smash second album: "Talk On Corners - Special Edition". The original album has been reworked to feature the hit mixes of "What Can I Do?," "So Young," and their cover of Fleetwood Mac's classic, "Dreams." These songs were retooled by some of Europe's hottest remix artists, including K- Klass (who remixed "So Young"), and two tracks reworked by Tin Tin Out (including "What Can I Do?" and "Runaway," originally from the Forgiven, not Forgotten). In addition, the revised Talk on Corners includes the rhythmic "Dreams (Tee's Radio Mix)," remixed by Todd Terry (best known for his hit remix of Everything But The Girl's "Missing").
In the U.K., Talk on Corners has been a phenomenon. The album has been in the top 10 since April 1998, hitting the #1 spot on four separate occasions. It has now won the distinction of accruing top 10 reigns in 1997, '98, and '99. The momentum has also resulted in the remarkable rise of Forgiven, not Forgotten into the U.K. top 5 -- giving the young group the rare achievement of having both of its albums in the highest reaches of the influential pop chart and underscoring their status as a true powerhouse. Talk on Corners also earned the band a prestigious Brit Award nomination -- the equivalent of America's Grammy Award -- in the Best International Band category, where they stood alongside Air, the Beastie Boys, Fun Lovin' Criminals, and R.E.M. The astounding international popularity of Talk on Corners has led to a remarkable register of success from around the world:
As Andrea says, explaining the Corrs' popularity around the planet, "I think the reason for that is our music is very melodic. Also, there's something about the traditional Irish music element that, all around the world, seems to capture everybody's heart."