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BIOGRAPHY

NAME:  Andrea Jane Corr MBE

DATE OF BIRTH:  17 May 1974

HEIGHT:  5' 1"

HAIR:  Ebony

EYES:  Brown

SKIN:   Ivory

PARENTS:  Jean & Gerry

BORN:  Dundalk, Ireland. (Dun Dealgan)

SCHOOLED:  Dun Lughaidh for girls   (St. Louis)

SIBLINGS:  Jim, Sharon, Caroline

NEPHEWS/NIECES:  Jake, Georgina, Cathal (Cal), Brandon, Rihann, Flori

OCCUPATION:  Lead singer and Lyricist / Actress

INSTRUMENTS PLAYED:  Tin whistle, piano.

HONOURS:  Member of the British Empire (for services to music / charity work)

PRESENT HOME:  Dublin & London.

FIRST CAR:  Black SLK200 Mercedes.

HOBBIES:  Reading, Cooking, The Theatre, Walking, Shopping.

ENDEARING TRAITS:  A wicked sense of humour / Sucks her thumb.

LOVES:  Life ! (and loved ones, of course)

Nestling in the shadow of the Cooley Hills, Dundalk is a small, busy coastal town in County Louth, approximately eight miles from the border with Northern Ireland.  Just east of Dundalk, the lonely moorlands of the Cooley Peninsula are the setting for a large part of Ireland's most famous fable, the Táin Bó Cúailgne or the Cattle Raid of Cooley.  Celtic legend has it that the great warrior CúChulainn fought with Queen Maeve for the revered brown bull, but these days Dundalk is more famous the world over for a musical phenomenon known as The Corrs.

Andrea Jane Corr was born youngest of five children to Jean and Gerry.  While Gerry worked for the Electricity Board by day, Jean stayed home in her role as Mammy, looking after the family.  At week-ends, both parents enjoyed and shared a passion for music, whether singing and playing small gigs around town, or playing songs with the children, at home.  Andrea grew up in this loving, musical environment, thinking all houses and families were musically, same as hers.

So who is Andrea Jane Corr?  Much has been written, but who can tell?  Only those bearing witness, having dallied in her company.

And so it is written, Andrea excelled at school.  She loved reading and drama, playing her first dramatic role in a school production of The Princess, aged seven.  Although music was a great love (she plays classical piano), unlike sisters Sharon and Caroline, she did not undertake a music course as part of the school curriculum and contrary to popular belief, did not start playing the tin whistle until she was about nineteen.  She adored pop stars Prince and The Thompson Twins - she now listens to a wide variety of sounds, including Irish singer Fionn Regan and adores U2.

Together with The Corrs, she has performed songs before Kings, Queens and Princes, Heads of State and The Holy Father.  Invitations to duet with stars such as Bono, Mick Jagger and Pavarotti thrilled her, but never turned her head away from who she is and how she wishes to be.  Andrea puts this down to good grounding, a wonderful upbringing and the parenting skills of both Jean and Gerry.

While the band, The Corrs, was still in its infancy, auditions were taking place at The Waterfront in Dublin for a film, The Commitments.  The siblings auditioned as a soul band but were very young. Instead Jim, Sharon and Caroline won 'blink and you'll miss us' parts, while the pretty, fifteen year old Andrea was awarded the part of Sharon Rabbitte, sister to The Commitments' manager, Jimmy.  Little did she know then that Colm Meaney, who played her father in the film, would one day feature in the same paternal role in her first major film, 'The Great Ceili Wars' - better known today as 'The Boys and Girl from County Clare'.

Life with the band was non-stop around the globe, and demanding, leaving the young Andrea only dreaming what life with a long-term boyfriend would be like.  She was main lyricist, having to write words of love for The Corrs' portfolio of songs and yet, many a night she wandered back to hotel rooms alone, relying on her many dreams and fertile imagination to pen an array of classic hit records.  It was at the end of one such tour, when her brother and sisters returned home for a short, well deserved break that Andrea got the call to visit Budapest, with manager and mentor John Hughes.  The film 'Evita', starring Madonna, Antonio Banderas and Jonathan Pryce was in the making.  Producer Alan Parker remembered her from The Commitments and asked would she play a cameo role, as the fifteen year old mistress of Juan Peron.  Andrea was a little older, but with her gentle style and youthful air, pulled off the part to perfection.

1999 was to be the pinnacle of the band's career, having already made history, reaching positions one and two in the British album charts with 'Talk On Corners' and 'Forgiven Not Forgotten'.  It would also be the worst in their life as a family, collapsing Gerry and his children in a blanket of blackness, through grief.

July 17 was a wondrous, summer evening and The Corrs were home playing the mighty Lansdowne Road rugby stadium, with none but their support act and 40,000 ecstatic fans.  The atmosphere was electric, the crowd played a most moving and animated role to the very last note - and Jean Corr witnessed the coming of her children's childhood dreams.  She had collected every magazine and newspaper cutting, followed them around the country, through thick and thin, encouraged them through bouts of the blues and slipped them a few punts, when stony broke.  In November that year, during the making of The Corrs' Unplugged album, Jean slipped, prematurely, out of their lives, in a Newcastle hospital, in England, with her beloved family at her bedside.

Andrea had always loved life, but now life was bigger than ever, and for Mammy's sake and love, she was determined to enjoy all that she could reap.  Her confidence and life skills seemed to hit a higher level, and although wit and determination were always strong in her nature, her philosophies and softly wisdom made the young Dundalk diva attractive and endearing beyond her flawless, dark beauty.

Apart from Jean, sister Caroline was always the big love in Andrea's life, having been brought up practically as twins, with only fourteen months between them.  They shared secrets, dreams and advice, often partying together and eventually, buying homes a stone's throw from each other.

The production of a new film, set mainly along the Antrim Coast and Isle Of Man, 'The Boys and Girl from County Clare' brought a different kind of love into Andrea's life.  She met and fell in love with a young Liverpudlian, Sean Evans, her love interest in the film.  The film won her 'best actress in a comedy' at the Colorado Film Festival - it also won her many new hearts among film goers. The Corrs have always kept their love lives guarded but now, Andrea felt like singing and shouting out loud.  The passing of her mother had brought out the best in Andrea, lyrically, with songs such as 'No More Cry' and 'Angel'.  With Shaun in mind, she was now writing, truly, about a new kind of love, a grown up kind of love.  Together with the title track, the much underrated 'Even If' are among the best from the album, 'Borrowed Heaven'.

Again the band toured; America, Europe, Britain.  But during a short break from business, Andrea was asked to feature in a short film, set in London, by a budding, young producer, Richard Raymond.  The film 'The Bridge' brought a different slant to Andrea's acting skills, together with much surprised eyebrow raising, regarding the remarkable quality, focus and professionalism of this talented actress, now well and truly established as part of the acting scene.

A nomination for best actress in a film for 'The Boys and Girl from County Clare' by the IFTA, coincided with the production of another major role.  This time she was off to the Himalayas for her part in Deepak Nayer's spiritual thriller, 'Broken Thread', starring along side Linus Roache and Saffron Burrows, and then it was back to the land that had seen her playing Anne - The Isle Of Man - to complete her part in the filming.

2005 was a vintage year in the life of Andrea Corr.  She was nominated for best actress in The Boys and Girl from County Clare, by the IFTA, losing out at the final hurdle to Renne Wellman.  Disappointment never entered her pretty head - she was proud to stand alongside seasoned artists and, surprised and humbled that her acting skills had been recognized at such an early stage in her career, by the home nation. 

A few days later, on the 7th November, Andrea, along with Jim, Sharon and Caroline, made a monumental short Journey, along with their Dad, to the British ambassador's residence at Sandyford, Dublin, where ambassador Mr Stewart Eldon by proxy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, presented all four of Jean and Gerry Corr's children with an honorary MBE.

It's been a long time since Andrea Corr walked in the grounds of Dun Lughaidh secondary school for girls, dressed in bottle-green school uniform, laughing along with best friend, Niamh.  I wonder, did she ever think to herself - 'you can get there from here.'

2006 proved a perfect start for this fashionable singer, budding actress and 'A' list celebrity.  Readers of 'Hello' magazine fell to her softly Irish charms once again.  Andrea has long set the world of fashion alight, stepping out in the most elegant styles months before they hit the high street.  In 2001 and 2004 she was voted most attractive female by readers of the popular magazine.  In January 2006 she took both 'the most elegant' and 'most attractive female' titles for 2005 with a whopping 28% of all votes polled.  She accepted the honour in her stride, offering special, heart-felt thanks to those who took time casting a vote against her name, but at the end of the day, the beautiful raven-haired woman with the poetic Irish lilt is just one of many bonnie girls come out of Dundalk and to those who love and know her best, she's simply ....'Little Bird'.

Plans to star in yet another thriller, 'Knife Edge' were nearing a critical phase and heading towards production, when she was reminded that an offer to record her first solo album, wouldn't wait forever.   In her heart of hearts, Andrea recognized the voice in her, rather than the actress and sadly, declined the movie role owing to conflicting time schedules.  With a number of self-penned songs already under her belt, she signed contracts with Warner Music / Atlantic Records and began the arduous job of finding the right producer, who would create a mix for her music portfolio, away from the unmistakable and reverent sound of The Corrs.   Alone at her piano, at home in Dublin, she played the roughly written songs for good friends, Gavin Friday and Bono, who suggested an introduction to top producer for Bjork, Gwen Stefani and Massive Attack - Mr Nellee Hooper.  Nervous, but unperturbed, she played for Nellee, again, at the piano, some fabulous, deep, meaningful 'Alice Through The Looking Glass' style lyrics.  He asked her to e-mail them to him, as he holidayed around the Amalfi Coast in Italy and after awhile, left a message on her answer machine saying, 'we're going to make a great record together.'

Andrea, the story teller, now had an artist to colour in the canvas - her illustrator and producer.  By the close of 2006 the album 'Ten Feet High' was nearing completion - the title song masking the breakdown of her four year relationship with Shaun.  Always philosophical about life and love, she took the one thing her proud mother gave to her lively heart - she got on with living.

The release of 'Ten Feet High' in June 2007 gave special thanks to the people who supported her very first solo album; her family, her friends -  including  Shaun Evans and now, Irish stockbroker, Brett Desmond.

Bringing this page up to date is not a new beginning for Corr-onfilm, on the contrary, I did it (simply) because I like Andrea Corr - she's interesting, she's quirky and she's real.  I wish her continued success in a career that has touched and inspired millions.  More than anything, I wish her happiness and love to inspire her own dreams and life.

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Written by:  Annie

 ©  AndreA Books / AndreArt 2007

Sisters Sharon, Andrea, Caroline

They could do no wrong -

Best International act, 1999, beating

the world !

Those who mean the most ...

Mammy and Daddy

An Irish language teacher?!

In a different life, maybe.

Promoting 'The Boys & Girl from

County Clare'

London Premiere -  'The Bridge'

Acting?  The pull was too strong -

it just had to be.

All in a day - and still, she sings

....with good friend, Gavin Friday

.. with Gavin, the 'No Cow' and friends.    Built with the help of Dublin Inner city  schools - saying 'no' to harmful ways.