Don’t count on Enya to join Snapchat anytime soon. The Sunday Times rich list named the reclusive Irish singer the richest female musician in British and Irish history this month, but the “Sail Away” songstress prefers to keep her life extremely private.
According to a new report from The Sun, the 54-year-old Grammy winner lives in a castle laden with heavy security, her only companions her pet cats — at one point she had 12 — and a few staff members. According to The Sun, she rarely sees relatives and also bans herself from listening to other music to avoid having outside influences in her own work.
The singer, born Enya Patricia Brennan, reportedly once referred to herself as “dark and difficult to be with,” and spends most of her days in her studio working on her art.
“Throughout the music business there’s no one else who is so successful about whom so little is known,” an industry insider told The Sun. “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.”
Enya first made a splash in the States with her self-titled 1987 album, which went platinum and sold more than 6 million copies worldwide. In 2001, her single “Only Time” was picked up by CNN as the background track for footage from 9/11. It was released as a charity single shortly afterward, bringing her unprecedented attention from the mainstream.
The Sunday Times estimates her wealth at nearly $132 million, while The Sun notes she has sold more than 75 million albums — which beats out One Direction.
She quietly released her most recent album, Dark Sky Island, last November; previous works have included songs sung in Sindarin and Quenya, made-up languages that J.R.R. Tolkien created for The Lord of the Rings.
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“Nobody at the record company thought she’d ever be this big,” a source told The Sun. “And it’s almost impossible for anyone to become so huge without touring or promotion, let alone singing ethereal tunes in a weirdo language.”
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