from=January 1996
Interviewer-Gerry Kelly
Gerry: Now, lets move on to a group, to a group who have actually been on this show
before, about two years ago. And even then we all knew, we instantly knew that they were
very special indeed. Since that night they're debut single has gone platinum, they're
records are produced by no less a person than Michael Jackson's producer, they've appeared
on Beverly Hills 90210 and one of them is about to feature with Madonna in her latest film
'Evita'. They are now being spoken about in the same breath as 'U2' and 'The Cranberries',
so would you please welcome from Dundalk, three sisters, one brother, 'the Corrs'
They play 'Runaway'
acoustically
Gerry: Hiya Jim, have a sit down, good to see ya'. I'm gonna get three kisses now,
yes, I've been waiting on this all night. Heh, you single men out there....! Welcome,
welcome, welcome and congratulations to all that's happening to ya' since I last saw ya'
about two years ago. That's from 'Forgiven Not Forgotten',
that's the single, now how's that doin', now it's been released here, is that right?
Sharon: yeah
Gerry: Now explain to me how's it goin' and where is it in the charts at this time?
Everyone pauses
Gerry: Nobody knows
Jim: The album actually has got to Number 3 in the Irish charts, that's where it is
at the moment, the single got as high as number 8, which we were happy with, from a debut
single. It's only just been released here so please God it'll do very well here
Gerry: Things are goin' well, now as I say, things are on the up and up, tell me
how you got in touch with Michael Jackson's producer, now thats not bad for a 'wee' family
from Dundalk, is it? What happened?
Sharon: What happened was, we were in New York scouting for a record deal and we
were, we went into Atlantic records in New York and met with an A & R man there and he
fell in love with our music, we knew instantly that he really liked it, and he said he'd
love us to meet with David Foster but David was currently working with Michael Jackson in
the 'Hit Factory' at the time and as you can imagine big security there, you just can't
get in, a very busy man, yu just can't get in. So we were doing a showcase the following
day just around the corner from the 'Hit Factory' and our manager John Hughes said 'look,
let's go round and see if we can get in, let's see if we can 'gatecrash' it', and we
'gatecrashed' it. We got in and there were these big huge bouncers y'know Michael
Jackson's personal bodyguards, I don't know how we got by them, maybe it was a bit of
Irish charm or something like that, but something stood by us anyway. And we sat in the
lobby and David came out and he took us upstairs, and we played demo for him and then we
played some acoustic stuff around a piano and he loved it and the next day we were rang by
the A & R man in Atlantic records and he said 'go out and have a meal on Atlantic
records, you're signed'
Gerry: My goodness, that's a fairy tale. Those types of things don't happen
Caroline: Sounds like a fairytale
Gerry: But really. Now tell me about 90120643 Beverly Hills?
Sharon: Everybody does that
Caroline: Well we did, it's a Christmas, sorry, it's a New Years bash that they
have in the 'Peach Pit', at New Years time and we play one of our songs 'Forgiven Not
Forgotten' on the show
Gerry: But how did you meet, like, Aaron Spelling, the guy that created ,
'Dynasty''Dallas'and all that, he does this Beverly Hills thing, how did you get in, did
you camp out on his door aswell?
Caroline: (laughing) No, not quite, It was actually , our manager was going out one
night with actually, David Foster, our producer, and he happened to be in a restaurant and
Aaron Spelling happened to be there so of course, John, taking the opportunity, said 'well
I manage this band called 'the Corrs' from Ireland, they're doing very well and I wonder.
Well he didn't actually, actually Aaron was very very interested in the film 'The
Commitments' which, that's how we started
Gerry: Who was in 'The Commitments, all of you?
Caroline: Well we all had sortof cameo...
Gerry: Little bits, little parts
Jim: Blink and you'll miss it
Caroline: And em, they got talking and we went to the set and em, we played for
Aoran. We played one of our songs acoustically for him, and he liked it, we actually did a
bit of reading for him aswell. And eventually, after a few months, he invited us to go on
the show
Gerry: So we're goin' to see ya' in that when?, that hasn't been shown yet has it?
Jim: It'll actually be shown, I think it's March sometime, the end of March or the
beggining of April maybe, it'll be shown then
Gerry: So you're just singing as 'the Corrs' on that
All: Yeah
Gerry: Now, Evita, did you camp out on Madonna's doorstep and ask could you be in
her film please
Andrea: No, well as you know I, from 'The Commitments', I played that part in the
Commitments and we met Alan Parker from that and I was asked to audition, so I did. So I'm
now playing Peron's mistress, 15 years old. But I'm currently working on trying to get
them to re-write the script so that I can be Antonio Banderas' mistress (she laughs)
Please!, I don't think it'll work
Gerry: It's all singing, the whole thing is singing isn't it
Andrea: Yes it's all, it's Andrew Lloyd Webber's kind of opera, y'know there's no
spoken word at all
Gerry: Now how do you feel Jim, about her leaving the group for a 'wee' while to go
off and do her own thing?
Andrea: Jim???
Jim: I'm glad to get rid of her to be honest
Gerry: Are ya' seriously? Jim, y'see I feel sorry for you
Jim: Why?
Gerry: Like, out touring, first of all there's three sisters
Sharon: (patting his head) Poor 'wee' boy
Gerry: I know he's the eldest but, but it obviously must be terrible going in and
out of hotel bedrooms and all ya' see is dirty knickers in the sink (everyone laughs)
and tight's hanging everywhere.......
Caroline: Excuse you
Gerry: It must.., I mean how do you cope?
Caroline: We only have clean knickers (laughs)
Gerry: How do you cope but, because it's a womans' world as far as 'the Corrs' are
concerned
Jim: They used to beat me up and bully me but I sort of sorted them out. No,
actually we get on very very well together, and it's certainly one of, the family bond
that has helped us over a lot of, some of the obstacles which inevitably come everybody's
way in the music business. I mean we got quite a few dissapointments and because of the
bond, it held us together, and y'know it can get fairly lonely on the road, and you have
each other and it's wonderful to be travelling and to be seein' new places, and y'know
being able to share them with your own family, it's a wonderful experience
Gerry: So it's more of a help than it is a hinderance to be a family
Caroline: Sometimes, I definately think that we are just like any normal family
Gerry: But your not, you can't be like a normal family
Caroline: Well we do have our arguements, just like, y'know
Jim: No we don't, what d'ya' mean?
Gerry: Well where are you off to now, tommorow for example
Sharon: Stockholm
Gerry: Go on give me your itinery for the next week or two weeks or month
Sharon: Oh, we go to Stockholm tommorow, we're doing a promotional tour of Europe.
The next day we go to Madrid, then the next day we go to Barcelona, then Paris, and then I
think we come home to Ireland for a few days, then we go to Atlanta, Canada, Japan,
Australia in three weeks in February. And then we tour America. Then hopefully we come
back and do an Irish tour and then a European tour
Gerry: Because it's all happened so quick, are you not terrified that the bubble
will burst, do you not have that feeling that it's all...?
Andrea: Well we don't actually think that it has happened so quick, I mean we are
working on this five years, we had a little 8-track studio in a bedromm and that is where
we demo-ed, wrote and recorded all our stuff, so y'know we were pursuing a record deal and
pursuing something like this for a long time. I mean it has turned out fairytale like
y'know, it seems, it's amazing but it's not an overnight 'Runaway' success
Jim: We do believe that if you put an awful lot of energy and hard work into any
project, no matter what it is, it eventually does bear fruit, we believe that
Gerry: Well you're certainly reaping the rewards of all your work. I see your Mum
and Dad sitting in the audience tonight, awfully proud, sitting looking and going 'yeah
they're my four children, they're my four children', anyway thanks Mum and Dad for coming
up and to you four, continued success in 1996.
Caroline: Thanks very much
Andrea: Thankyou
Gerry: And when you make it to the ultimate, y'know the big time, don't forget us
up here in Belfast, sure you won't
Caroline: Of Corrs we won't
Andrea: How could we
Gerry: But you'll sing one more song for us a little later?
All: Yeah
Gerry: OK, We look forward to that. Will you please thank the Corrs
Applause