Many artists are odd. I certainly am in my quiet way. Multimillionaire singer Enya is a recluse who has sworn off love, lives in a castle with cats and sings in a make-believe language. She is profiled today in a fascinating article in the
NY Post by Natalie O'Neill. Here are highlights, pared and edited by yours truly: "The 54-year-old singer — whose moody new-age tunes often throb through day spas and dental offices — was outed last week as the richest female in British and Irish history. She boasts a $169 million fortune and has sold more than 75 million albums. But nobody — including neighbors, relatives and paparazzi — knows much about this oddball, who’s been seen leaving her Dublin home only twice in the past decade. Cats are her closest companions, in part because men find her 'dark and difficult,' she once said. At one point she had a dozen of the furry friends. She spends her time holed up in her sprawling Victorian mansion, toiling over her tunes. To keep her creative juices pure, she refuses to listen to music made by any other artists. She won’t go on tour or respond to fan letters and spends nearly every waking moment with an elderly married couple with whom she makes her music. She spends months on every detail of her songs, some of which are overdubbed with vocals more than 500 times. And she sometimes sings them in languages created by
Lord of the Rings author JRR Tolkien. Her financial success is tied to her 2001 single
Only Time, which CNN used as a backdrop to 9/11 footage months after its release. She later gained fans after she released it as a charity single. But none of her peers imagined her music would become so popular. A source said: 'Nobody at the record company thought she’d ever be this big. And it’s almost impossible for anyone to become so huge without touring or promotion, let alone singing ethereal tunes in a weirdo language... Throughout the music business there’s no one else who is so successful about whom so little is known. She doesn’t socialize, she’s barely seen out of the house, there aren’t any clues in her lyrics about her life... Even at her album launches, label bosses will hold a large event rather than ask her to do individual interviews, as they make her so uncomfortable. She’s a huge question mark.' A local resident said: 'When she bought the castle there was a lot of work done and plenty of money put into security — cameras, gates and lights. People come looking for it from all over the world but you can’t see through the gates. You wouldn’t even know there was anyone there most of the time.' The singer has admitted choosing music over men. She said: 'After a bad day in the studio I’m dark and difficult to be with, I want and need to be on my own. What sort of man would be able to adapt? Falling madly in love and getting married would be the most horrific thing that could happen. My affairs are with melody and words and beautiful sounds... I had partners. But I find long relationships, well, how can I say it without appearing strange? I’m too much devoted to my music. Some people think it sounds sad but believe me, I’m happy. I am my music.' The singer, who got her start in a Celtic family band at age 19, calls music 'my first love and my present love.'"
When I'm not outside selling books, I pretty much isolate myself the way she does, but I doubt I'll ever not desire the company of women, and I cannot imagine not reading the works of other writers, although I have always worried about subliminal theft. Other than that, I admire her dedication to her craft. I spent some time at youtube, listened to four of her tracks. It's unfair to judge a song on one listen. I will only say they are nice, pleasant. Here's a link to the aforementioned one. It is preceded by an ad that can be clicked off after five seconds:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wfYIMyS_dI
My thanks to the kind folks who bought wares today, particularly the gentleman who bought all the Russian books pertaining to plants, and the one who was ecstatic about his purchase of
Mermaids (1990), his all-time favorite film, on DVD.
Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
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