Biography
Five years since the The Corrs announced that they were taking a break from music to concentrate on their growing families, Sharon Corr is hugely excited to finally be releasing her debut solo album ‘Dream of You’ on Friday 10th September. A collection of beautifully crafted, melodic pop gems, it’s a remarkable debut that demands to be listened in full – each story and melody flowing seamlessly into the next. The first single ‘Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime’, a stunning version of The Korgis hit is released Friday September 3rd.
Recorded in Dublin earlier this year, Sharon worked with a truly eclectic range of renowned traditional musicians including Davy Spillane, John McSherry, Máirtín O’Connor and Gerry O’Connor. There is a thrilling duet with the legendary Jeff Beck on the haunting traditional track ‘Mna Na hÉireann’ – a collaboration that came about after Sharon went to see him in concert in Dublin last year.
Long time Corr’s sidemen, Anthony Drennan, Keith Duffy and Jason Duffy played guitars, bass and drums respectively. “Dream Of You” was produced by Billy Farrell with Sharon acting as associate producer.
Sharon was determined that her violin should continue to play a central role. “It was important for me to keep the Irish influence and the violin because that’s what I’m known for” she reasons. “But I wanted to explore the violin in a wider context”.
As violinist, songwriter and backing vocalist with The Corrs, Sharon enjoyed enormous success in the 90’s, with 30 million album sales, sold out worldwide stadium tours and a string of number 1 single and albums under the band’s belts. But after 15 years on the road with her siblings, it was time to take a break: ”We all needed to find our own identities and our own lives, and to have marriages and children and that sort of thing,” she says.
Sharon’s first child arrived in 2006 and a second was swiftly on the way. Initially, she enjoyed the break and the opportunity to live what she calls ”a normal life”. But it wasn’t long before the music started to summon her back. ”Music is what makes me tick and when I’m not doing it, I don’t feel good about myself,” she admits.
By the time she was expecting her second child in 2007, she was spending increasing amounts of time at the piano, writing songs. ”I was desperate to get back into the studio and I recorded the first demo for the album when I was heavily pregnant,” she remembers.
The process saw Sharon re-discovering her confidence in song writing, but also finding her voice as a lead vocalist for the first time. This new sound, combined with time out/away from the band, and her new wealth of experience as a mother, has produced a body of songs that will have reassuring tones for old Corrs fans, but also much that is new and fresh.
If the hits she wrote for the Corrs were her songs of innocence – or at least, of youth – these are the songs of experience. ”People tend to think you’re a singer-songwriter, or a violinist, or a pop group, or a rock musician,” Sharon says. ”I’m actually a lot of different things and I’ve no intention of denying any one of them. You get all of me on this album.”
