Eithne Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin (Irish pronunciation: ˈenʲə ˈpˠaːd̪ˠɾˠəɟiːnʲ n̠ʲiː ˈwɾˠiːnˠaːnʲ) (born 17 May 1961; anglicised as Enya Patricia Brennan), known mononymously as Enya, is an Irish singer and composer. With an estimated equivalent of more than 80 million albums sold worldwide, Enya is one of the world's best-selling music artists. In addition to being the best-selling Irish solo artist, she is the second-best-selling music act from Ireland overall, after the band U2. Enya's music has been widely recognised for its use of multi-layers of her own vocals and instrumentation, lengthened reverb, and interwoven elements of Celtic music.
Raised in the Irish-speaking region of Gweedore, Enya began her musical career in 1980, playing alongside her family's Irish folk band, Clannad. She left Clannad in 1982 to pursue a solo career, working with the former Clannad manager and producer, Nicky Ryan, and his partner Roma Ryan (née Forbes) as their lyricist. Over the following four years, Enya further developed her sound by combining multi-tracked vocals and keyboards with elements from a variety of musical genres, such as Celtic, classical, Gregorian chant, church, jazz, hip-hop, ambient, world, and Irish folk. Her earliest solo releases were two piano/synthesiser instrumentals for the Touch Travel T4 cassette compilation (1984) composed around 1982–83.
