可儿家族合唱团

由Jim、Sharon、Caroline、Andrea四位兄弟姐妹组成的The Corrs 可儿家族合唱团，来自于爱尔兰小镇的一个天主教家庭，父母亲是巡回演出乐团的乐师，在父母亲的指引下，大哥Jim负责吉他及键盘、大姐Sharon负责演奏小提琴、二姐Caroline负责打鼓、小妹Andrea则是吹奏锡笛及身兼主唱，小时候四个人常常聚在父母亲楼上的卧房演唱，从木匠兄妹、老鹰合唱团、古典乐到宗教圣乐都有，可儿家族便自然而然地朝向音乐之路发展。

可儿家族合唱团 – 乐队历程

尽管可儿家族在国际乐坛上已树立起成功的标志，他们的根依然深植于爱尔兰。生长在爱尔兰边境小镇Dundalk亲情浓厚的家庭中，他们从很小的年纪就开始学习演奏乐器。1990年当Caroline和Andrea还在学校念书时，他们就参与了导演亚伦帕克(Alan Parker)电影《追梦者》的演出。最初他们也固定在都柏林各地表演。他们的成名关键始于1995年当他们首度前往美国时，在麦可杰克森的选歌会议上接触了唱片生涯中的贵人─知名唱片制作人大卫佛斯特(David Foster)，并且主动要求在他面前现场表演。大卫佛斯特对他们的印象非常深刻，很快地就同意为他们的首张专辑《原谅却未遗忘》担任制作。这张专辑1996年发行，在加拿大、爱尔兰、澳洲、西班牙、纽西兰、丹麦和英国等七国惊人地拿下多白金唱片成绩，全世界其它国家也几乎全面都有金唱片优异成果。

他们的第二张专辑《街角闲谈》在1997年推出，当时可儿家族在梵蒂冈不断受邀参加基督教演唱会的表演，于圣派屈克节时在伦敦Albert Hall的门票全数售空造成一票难求，与帕瓦罗蒂同台演唱，获邀担任滚石杂志颁奖典礼的开场表演艺人，以及在英联邦运动会的闭幕典礼现场表演。《街角闲谈》成为1998年度最畅销的英国专辑。另一方面，他们的前两张专辑更创下相同于甲壳虫乐队的历史纪录，在英国金榜上同时占据第一、二名的位置。《街角闲谈》最后刷新纪录，取得在22个国家拿下多白金唱片，以及在其它少数国家得到金唱片的佳绩。

1999年在第三张录音唱片《天天天蓝》问世前，可儿家族先是推出了《MTV传真-现场演唱会专辑》(MTV Unplugged)专辑，《天天天蓝》则是在2000年发行。专辑一面世即迅速地再度创下如同先前专辑一样的白金唱片辉煌成绩。集结了过去这些年在唱片上的成就，可儿家族而后即发行了首张精选辑《可儿最精选》(Best Of The Corrs)，收录了历年畅销单曲如So Young、Runaway、Dreams、What Can I Do、Breathless和Give Me A Reason等脍炙人口佳作。连同为爱尔兰超级大团之一的U2主唱Bono也对这爱尔兰后起之秀可儿家族赞为：“优秀的音乐创作者!”

2004年10月的新专辑《借来的天堂》(Borrowed Heaven)，是呈现出他们截至今天最极至成果的专辑。Andrea强调，“我认为这是我们做的最好的一张专辑，里面涵盖了不可思议多样化的风格和情境，整体来说我真的觉得非常顺畅。”可儿家族合唱团在全球销售已累积超过3千万张唱片，但《借来的天堂》的音乐表现让他们更超越了过去的成就。

可儿家族合唱团 – 获奖纪录

1995

首张专辑《原谅并非遗忘》在祖国爱尔兰拥有9白金销售

名列爱尔兰销售量最佳的首张专辑

1997

《街角闲谈》专辑在全球22个国家获得白金唱片以及其它9个国家金唱片纪录

此专辑史无前例缔造”全世界唯一停留英国专辑超过2年的团体”的光荣纪录

获得全英音乐奖”最佳国际团体”、世界音乐奖”爱尔兰最佳销售乐团”、

Q杂志评为史上最快乐的专辑之一

1999

《MTV传真，现场演唱会专辑》

全球销量超过250万张

全英音乐奖最佳国际乐团奖

2000

《天天天蓝》夺得全球18国专辑榜冠军

全欧洲2000年销售量最好的乐团专辑

葛莱美奖最佳流行演唱团体、最佳流行演奏曲2项提名

全球销售超过600万张

2001

《可儿家族最精选》

集结出道至今的首张精选作品辑

2002

荣获爱尔兰音乐奖”最佳流行乐团”

2004

《借来的天堂》收录荣获金球奖提名﹝前进天堂﹞电影主题曲”Time Enough For Tears”

专辑总销量累积超过3千万张

The Corrs

The Corrs are a folk rock band from Ireland, consisting of three sisters and one brother from the Corr family, who rose to prominence in the late 1990s

History

The Corrs were formed to audition for the 1991 film The Commitments. Jim, Sharon, and Caroline had a small part as musicians, while Andrea got a speaking part as Sharon Rabbitte, sister of the main character. While auditioning for the movie they were noticed by their future manager, John Hughes.

Their music has been released through Atlantic Records, part of the Warner Music Group.

The band was unknown outside of Ireland until 1994 when the American ambassador to the country invited the group to perform at the 1994 World Cup in Boston. This performance also led to the band becoming the supporting act for Celine Dion on her 1996 world tour.

Their first album, Forgiven, Not Forgotten, had its greatest success in Australia, France and Ireland, gaining later success in the UK and in Canada. In 1998 they released Talk On Corners, which was primarily popular in Ireland and Britain, but then successfully spread across the globe. Both have been certified gold in the United States, and In Blue has been certified platinum by the RIAA. In 2004, they released Borrowed Heaven, which has been very popular globally.

They also recorded Canto Alla Vita with Josh Groban for his self-titled album, and also been involved with a number of collaborations including with Rod Stewart, Alejandro Sanz, Ron Wood from The Rolling Stones, Sheryl Crow on C’mon, C’mon and Bono from U2.

In 2005 the band returned with Home, a traditional Irish album celebrating their roots, many of the songs coming from their late mother’s songbook including two songs in their mother tongue, Gaelic. In October 2005 the band released All The Way Home an up-to-date documentary on the band along with a live concert from their Borrowed Heaven tour in Geneva recorded in 2004.

Band members

The four core Corrs were born in Dundalk, Ireland, the children of Gerry and Jean Corr, two musicians. The group contains all the Corr siblings, three sisters and their brother.

Jim Corr (born James Steven Ignatius Corr, on July 31 1964) is the oldest member of the band. He mainly plays the guitar, but is also proficient on the keyboards and the piano.

Sharon Corr (born Sharon Helga Corr, on March 24 1970) plays the violin and backing vocals.

Caroline Corr (born Caroline Georgina Corr, on March 17 1973) plays drums, percussion, bodhrán, piano, backing vocals, and tambourine.

Andrea Corr (born Andrea Jane Corr, on May 17 1974) sings lead vocals, backing vocals, and plays the tin whistle.

All members can also play the piano which was taught to them by their father Gerry Corr.

All four siblings were made Honorary Members of the Order of the British Empire in 2005. This was met with some discontent in Ireland as the Order is run via England and headed by Queen Elizabeth II.

Support

The band’s usual support musicians are Anto Drennan (lead guitar) and Keith Duffy (bass guitar). From 2004, Duffy’s brother Jason Duffy joined on percussion, with Kieran Kiely on accordion and keyboards. The band excel in their live shows and have been called by U2’s Bono as “the loudest whisper in pop”.

The future

The future of the band is currently unknown. Andrea Corr is currently undertaking some new projects in acting, and just finished filming a new movie called Broken Thread alongside Linus Roache and Saffron Burrows. The film is said to be an exciting psychological thriller being compared to The Sixth Sense. Sharon Corr recently gave birth to her first child with husband Gavin Bonnar and presumably will be taking time off to look after her new family. Caroline Corr, busy with her two children, also will be taking time off. Jim Corr announced his engagement to his girlfriend of one year, Gayle Williamson, a former Miss Northern Ireland who is expecting the couple’s first child. A wedding date has not been announced.

The band recently received honorary MBEs in Dublin for their outstanding contribution to music and charity work and became the second Irish band to sell over a million albums in Ireland.

Discography

Singles

Forgiven, Not Forgotten – (September 1995)

Talk On Corners – (1997)

The Corrs Unplugged – (October 1999)

In Blue – (June 2000)

The Best Of The Corrs – (October 2001)

VH1 Presents: The Corrs, Live In Dublin – (2002)

Borrowed Heaven – (May 2004)

Home – (September 2005)