43 Facts About Moya Brennan

Moya Brennan is the sister of the musical artist known as Enya.

Moya Brennan began performing professionally in 1970 when her family formed the band Clannad.

Moya Brennan has received a Grammy Award from five nominations and has won an Emmy Award.

Moya Brennan has recorded music for several soundtracks, including Titanic, To End All Wars and King Arthur.

Moya Brennan's mother Maire was a music teacher and her father, Leo Brennan, was a member of a cabaret band with whom she performed as a child.

Moya Brennan has four sisters, Deirdre, Eithne, Olive and Bridin, and four brothers, Ciaran, Pol, Leon and Bartley.

Moya Brennan sang along with her siblings in the family pub, Leo's Tavern in the village of Meenaleck, a short distance from the family home.

Moya Brennan took part in pantomimes at the local Amharclann Ghaoth Dobhair.

Moya Brennan has taught music at Holy Cross College in Falcarragh, County Donegal.

In 1970, Moya Brennan joined her two brothers Pol and Ciaran, and their mother's twin brothers Noel and Padraig O Dugain, and eventually formed Clannad.

Moya Brennan was at the forefront of the group's success and her voice suddenly became synonymous with Celtic music and Irish music.

Moya Brennan recorded 17 albums with Clannad and has won a Grammy, a BAFTA and an Ivor Novello award with the quintet.

Moya Brennan released her first solo album in 1992, Maire, on Atlantic Records.

In 1998, Moya Brennan signed with Word Records and released Perfect Time, and Whisper to the Wild Water a year later.

Moya Brennan is managed by her husband Tim Jarvis and her brother Leon O Braonain.

Moya Brennan's music is usually classified as New Age or Celtic.

Moya Brennan accepts the Celtic label, but has at times indicated a slight discomfort with being seen as "New Age" as much of her music is strongly Christian, with several of her songs centring on maintaining a relationship with Jesus.

Moya Brennan considered it an honour as she believes in mutual respect among Christians.

Moya Brennan recorded a duet with Booley, now known as Duke Special.

Moya Brennan has collaborated with many other musicians, including Chicane, Alan Parsons, Bono, Robert Plant, Van Morrison, Michael McDonald from the Doobie Brothers, Bruce Hornsby, Joe Elliott, The Chieftains, Paul Young, Paul Brady, Michael Crawford, Joe Jackson and Ronan Keating.

Moya Brennan has toured to promote the album extensively in the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland and England.

In 2009, Moya Brennan recorded the official soundtrack on Maryland Public Television documentary film 'Intrepid Journal' which documents 50 years of American foreign policy, from World War II to the September 11 attacks.

Moya Brennan announced that she was working on a hymns album, possibly for 2010 release and would release a new acoustic music album with Clannad in 2010 or 2011.

Moya Brennan was scheduled to perform at the National Geographic Society in Washington, DC on 17 March 2012.

In 2020, Moya Brennan was part of an Irish collective of female singers and musicians called "Irish Women in Harmony", that recorded a version of the song "Dreams" in aid of the charity Safe Ireland, which deals with domestic abuse which had reportedly risen significantly during the COVID-19 lockdown.

In 2012, Moya Brennan's daughter, Aisling Jarvis, became a permanent member of her band.

In May 2022, Moya Brennan's contributions were recognised by the awarding of an honorary doctorate by Dublin City University, alongside aircraft leasing leader Domhnal Slattery, at a ceremony attended by Moya Brennan's immediate family, as well as her mother and her sister Enya.

Moya Brennan was announced as Donegal Person of The Year 2023 on 10 February 2024.

Moya Brennan wrote an autobiography called The Other Side of the Rainbow in 2000, in which she recalls her upbringing as the eldest of nine siblings in rural Donegal.

Moya Brennan emerged from her "dark years" as a committed Christian, with rekindled faith.

Moya Brennan remarried in 1991, having previously been married to a Dublin musician, Pat Farrell, who passed away on January 14,2023.

In 2003, Moya Brennan became Goodwill Ambassador to Christian Blind Mission Ireland.

Moya Brennan later promised to return to the Congo, which she did in 2005 to airlift three children from isolated jungle villages to Kinshasa.

Moya Brennan travelled to shanty-towns in Brazil and performed a fund-raising event in the country with Assiria Nascimento in 2007.

At the opening, Moya Brennan brought together the Belizean Prime Minister Said Musa, Minister of Finance, Leader of the Opposition and UK Conservative Party member and businessman with extensive business interest in Belize, Michael Ashcroft, Baron Ashcroft.

Moya Brennan has performed concerts worldwide with other Christian Blind Mission Goodwill Ambassadors from Europe.

In July 2005, Moya Brennan took part in a protest alongside poet Cathal O Searcaigh and locals of County Donegal to protest against the installation of electric cables across various areas of the county due to the harm it could cause to both people and the landscape.

In 1986, Moya Brennan performed alongside Bono, Bob Geldof and Chris de Burgh for Self Aid.

Moya Brennan has attended various benefits in both Ireland and England, most notably alongside Van Morrison in 1996.

Moya Brennan donated her b-side "Ceolfaidh Me" to the Field of Hope album, which features Bono and The Corrs.

In October 2008, Moya Brennan was appointed director for Ireland's first Christian satellite radio station, UCB Ireland, which operates from Dublin.

Moya Brennan recorded a song under her birth name "Maire Ni Bhraonain" on the 2009 Ceol Cheann Dubhrann album with Manus Lunny to raise funds for Aislann Rann na Feirste and Scoil Naisiunta Rann na Feirste.

In 2020, Moya Brennan was part of an Irish collective of female singers and musicians called Irish Women in Harmony, that recorded a version of "Dreams" in aid of the SafeIreland charity that deals with domestic abuse, which had reportedly risen significantly during the COVID-19 lockdown.