Andrea Corr, singer, glamour-puss and youngest member of Dundalk's most famous siblings, sits demurely in the bar of the Westbury Hotel, ready to do battle with the media, and dressed to kill in leather miniskirt, black top and boots. The Corrs are home for the holidays, following a hectic year-and-a-half in which the group went from local heroes to international pop act, and they're planning to join their parents for a family Christmas in Dundalk, where, presumably, they'll finally get a chance to sit back and take it all in. "It's insane," Andrea sums up. "Our manager, John Hughes, looked at our schedule and realised what we've done in the past year, and it's just crazy the things that we've done within just a few days, going from one continent to the other."
Here's one typically busy period in The Corrs increasingly crammed calendar: support Celine Dion in Dublin's Point Theatre, then fly straight out to Los Angeles to spend the day working on the set of Beverly Hills 90210. Get the red-eye express to New York, arriving in time to guest on the CBS Morning Show, then bounce straight back to Los Angeles for the Billboard Convention. By the time you're finished, you've no energy left to complain about being overworked. "To be honest, it is crazy, it is intense, and you do get very tired," admits Andrea. "But adrenalin keeps you going, it kicks in. That's the great thing about music, and probably the bad thing, because your health could suffer, but that keeps you enthused."
Not that The Corrs would ever grumble about their good fortune - ever since Andrea, Sharon, Caroline and Jim decided to become full-time bandmates, they've been working towards the day when the whole world will know their surname. Now that they've finally seized that day, they're not about to let it go. "We want to make the best out of every moment, you know, we are young and these are the important years. And we really do see the benefit of all the work we do, and we can cope. It would be different if you did not see the fruits of your efforts, that would be so soul-destroying, but we do see it, and we wouldn't want it any other way."
One-and-a-half million copies of The Corrs debut album, For- given Not Forgotten, have already been plucked from record shelves in Europe, the US and Australia; that's quite a lot of ripe fruit, and Andrea is surprised and pleased the world is taking a bite. America may be only nibbling right now, but The Corrs have been No 1 in Australia three times, and their records are selling in some unlikely corners of the globe, "places that aren't remotely Irish," says Andrea. "It's great that it's successful in all these places, but the success in Ireland is a really great feeling. It truly is special because it's your home.
"We do mix traditional with contemporary and pop, and that could be controversial, but the way Irish people have taken to it is an affirmation that what we're doing is good. And the type of people who come to our gigs are so lovely, there just seems to be an all-around good feeling to the whole thing."
The music of The Corrs is certainly heavy on the feel-good factor, with songs like Runaway and Love To Love You piling on the romantic sentiments over a bass, drum, keyboard, violin and tin whistle backdrop. Add in the band's high rating on the lookgood scale, and you've got a winning combination of pop and pulchritude. No wonder Atlantic Records' Vice President and producer David Foster fell for the Corrs' gentle Irish charms. He wasn't the first. Riverdance composer Bill Whelan was an early mentor of the band, and the U.S. ambassador, Jean Kennedy Smith, was so impressed at a gig at Whelans, she invited the still-unsigned Corrs to come to Boston and perform at the World Cup celebrations.
At the tender age of 22, Andrea has already been there, seen that, done that, from performing onstage in a Hollywood drama series to playing the mistress of Juan Peron in the forthcoming movie of Evita. On December 31st, the Corrs will top off a spectacular 12 months with a New Year's Eve gig at Dublin's Point Theatre - it's a long way from performing for aunties and uncles at home in Dundalk every Christmas. "I was 16 when I joined the band: I didn't know what I was getting into at all. It was just (puts on teeny voice) Okay, I'll do it!"
Looking at the finely-chiselled cheekbones of the Corrs, it seems apparent they are genetically suited to pop stardom, and listening to the smooth, Celtic strains of their debut album, you just know the radio loves them as much as the camera. They've got the looks and the talent, but for some strange reason your typical male rock journo only wants to discuss the former. So, with typical male rock journo predictability, I blurt out that song title to Andrea - You're Gorgeous - then ask Andrea if she finds it tough keeping a balance between between the music and the image. "No - I mean, initially, I suppose, when we started, you do probably have to assert yourself a little bit more, so that a person just doesn't think like that. But, to be honest, you know, it's only an asset: it is showbusiness, and we wouldn't be doing this if we weren't musicians. I think maybe when people initially see us, they go `wow!', but then when we play for them, people don't go, `my goodness, you looked beautiful onstage', they go `that music is great'. So that's out the window as soon as we're heard. I mean, we would consider it the least of our assets." The Corrs indeed have other assets, one of the strongest being their family ties, and the band are taking time off to spend Christmas with their parents, Jean and Gerry, at the family home in Dundalk.
So, Andrea, what's Christmas like chez Corrs? "We're like any family: we eat, we drink, we have the Christmas turkey, the Baileys, the presents. It's just us and our parents - our relations do visit, but to be honest, we don't see our parents enough, and we don't have enough family time, so we like to be by ourselves. We love Christmas, it's great. A lot of drink!"
This year, there's an extra Christmas bonus, as the whole family will get to see Andrea play opposite Madonna in Alan Parker's film of Evita. Andrea has already been in one Alan Parker movie, The Commitments - playing Jimmy Rabitte's little sister, Sharon - but Parker didn't ask her to sing in that tale of Dublin soul ("He got me to curse instead!"). This time, however, she gets to croon her stuff in the company of the world's biggest female singing star. How about a sneak preview of your scene? "It's a very poignant part in the film. Basically, I play Peron's 15-year-old mistress, and I'm alone in Peron's and Madonna's bed, so she comes in and wakes me up and sings very cruel lines to me, and kind of yanks me out of the bed, and then the next scene is where I have my suitcase and my coat on, and Madonna and I look at each other, and I go over to Jonathan Pryce (Peron) and sing Another Suitcase In Another Hall." Must have been daunting, singing with such a larger-than-life figure as Madonna - not to mention getting kicked out of bed by her. Was she nervous at meeting someone the world perceives as more of an icon than a human being? "No - you see, the thing about being in this business, we were never the type to idolise and to get starstruck. Obviously, I'm human, and I was anxious before doing it, what she'd be like, and would I be intimidated by her. But when I got there I was just suddenly very calm, and I basically just focused on what I had to do, I didn't want to be distracted by anything. And she was fine. But I don't know her, so maybe she is this character - I don't presume to know, and I don't judge her on a moment's hello."