The Corrs

“Most musicians meet other band members in school or college or a rehearsal room,” says Andrea Corr. “I met mine around the breakfast table and in the queue for the bathroom.”

The Corrs are Ireland’s first family of music, a multi-million selling sibling quartet who have conquered the world with a seamless blend of sleek pop rock, lush harmonies and Celtic folk trimmings. Comprising Andrea (lead vocals, piano, tin whistle), Sharon (violin, piano, vocals), Caroline (drums, piano, vocals) and Jim (guitar, keyboards, vocals), The Corrs have sold over 40 million albums since their debut Forgiven Not Forgotten in 1995, spawning a dozen classic hit singles.
Off the back of a magical return to the stage touring Southeast Asia & Australia with sold out shows in November 2023, this year the band have taken a Talk on Corners celebration show on the road selling out arenas in the UK & Ireland. Reflecting on this the band have said:
Andrea: To be able to honour Talk on Corners with a tour all these years later is truly amazing. We have to say a huge thank you to all our fans for embracing this.
Caroline: This album really changed our lives, before this and the incredible Todd Terry remixes we hadn’t really heard our music played on the radio. But there was a time when Radio 1 kept playing it and playing it.
Jim: Moments like this have enabled us to dig deeper into our repertoire and play some songs we haven’t done before.
Sharon: After spending a few years touring solo, it’s been a total thrill to be back on the road with my family. We all have our moments, but there is no better place than being on the stage with the band.
With more Talk on Corners shows to come in 2025 this marks a significant return for a band loved worldwide.
The Corrs formed as a band in 1990 in the first roar of the Celtic tiger. They grew up in Dundalk, County Louth (in the Republic of Ireland, close to the border of Northern Ireland). Their parents, Gerry and Jean, sang semi-professionally as a duo, and all four children learned piano. Their aunt owned a pub, where they would join in sessions of traditional songs. Eldest sibling Jim (born 1964) was the first to forge a career as a professional musician. Jim persuaded his three younger sisters to accompany him to auditions for Alan Parker’s seminal Dublin music movie The Commitments. They all landed small parts and the film’s musical co-ordinator, John Hughes, was so impressed he asked to manage them. “We started when we were very young,” says Sharon (second eldest, born 1970). “Caroline and Andrea were still at school when we were making our first album. We left home as a family and went all over the world on an incredible journey.”

Their roles in the band came about naturally, according to Andrea (the youngest, born 1974). “I would sit in a chair and sing along with records and just become the person in the songs. It was never a question of who would be the lead singer? It was always me, and I’m so grateful, it’s the right job for me.” Jim led the band (by virtue of age and experience) only until his sisters had worked out the music business for themselves. “Which took about five minutes,” he comments. “Now there’s four people steering, so it can be a little wayward at times.” "We have different strengths that we will look to each other for," according to Caroline (born 1973). "Jim is the eldest but he is outnumbered by the rest of us."

They write songs individually and together, in various combinations. The Celtic element came gradually and naturally as they weaved traditional instrumentation into their pop songcraft. “There’s an Irish heartbeat to the Corrs,” says Sharon. “Irish is not something that you have just because you’re at home, you bring it with you, it’s in your heart, your soul, it’s part of your DNA. If there’s an Irish lick in a pop song it’s because it feels right, not because we hammer them in.”