from=SUNDAY LIFE,FEBRUARY 4, 1996
Interview By Neil McKay
America has truly proved to be a land of opportunity for Dundalk band the Corrs...and it's all thanks to American Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith.
The sisters and brother act have taken the States by storm while still virtually unknown back home. They have been rubbing shoulders with some of the biggest names in the entertainment world. They have recorded a slot on the popular teen soap Beverly Hills 90210, and soon they are to play live on America's top rated David Letterman show. And David Foster, who worked on Michael Jackson's most recent album, and has also recorded with Whitney Houston and Barbara Streisand, co-produced their debut album 'Forgiven Not Forgotten'. They spent all but six weeks of last year in America, recording and promoting the album. It has been a whirlwind rise to fame, all started by a gig in the Dublin club owned by Riverdance creator Bill Whelan.
Andrea, the 'baby' of the band at 21, explains: "we played a gig at Whelans, and Bill had invited Jean Kennedy Smith along to the show. "To all our surprise she came along, and she loved us so much she invited us over to Boston where we played for the Kennedys and Albert Reynolds. "On the back of that we started talking to some record companies, with Atlantic showing the greatest enthusiasm. "They wanted us to meet with David (Foster), and call it Irish luck or charm, but we were able to gatecrash a recording session with Michael Jackson at the Hit Factory in New York to see him. "We played a few acoustic numbers for him, and the next day, we were signing a deal." Sister Sharon adds: "There has been a great response in the states to our blend of Irish traditional music and pop/rock. Everywhere we go the response has been phenomonal.
"To be honest, one of our biggest assets is that we're Irish - all over the world people welcome the Irish, they love the Irish, especially in America. "But our biggest asset is the fact that we're portable - we can play anytime, anywhere, anyplace. "Some people have said that looks were the biggest thiing for us, but if we couldn't play, if we couldn't sing, if we couldn't do what we do, we'd have never got signed." In fact, the only cloud on the horizon is the amount of time they're having to spend away from home. Jim says "We were only home for about six weeks all last year. It's great, in one sense, but it's also the tough part about this business."
The album was released ahead of schedule in Ireland and has risen to No.3 in the Irish charts, while 'Runaway' was a top 10 single. The band hope to tour Ireland in April. Sharon says "The best thing that has happened to us has been the response in Ireland. It's great when we're away, and ring home and find out that things are going so well. It has been a real tonic when we've been a bit jaded. "We consider our music to be an international type of music with broad appeal and we would like it to be well received all over the world. But it is fantastic to get a positive response from the Irish people - it's good that they like what we are doing with traditional music."