Moya Brennan (born Máire Philomena Ní Bhraonáin; also known as Máire Brennan, was an Irish folk singer, songwriter, harpist and philanthropist. Máire grew up as the eldest child of a musical family in the remote parish of Gweedore, a Gaeltacht area in County Donegal, where Irish was her first language and traditional music continued to flourish. Her mother was a music teacher and her father was a member of a cabaret band, with whom she performed with as a child. In 1970, Brennan joined her two brothers Pól and Ciarán, and their mother’s twin brothers Noel and Pádraig Ó Dúgáin, eventually forming the music group Clannad. They were introduced on television by Irish musician and broadcaster Tony MacMahon. After a decade of being among the world’s foremost Irish musical groups, Clannad saw chart success in 1982 with the album Magical Ring. She recorded 17 albums with Clannad and won a Grammy, a BAFTA and an Ivor Novello award with the quintet. Her sister, Eithne Ní Bhraonáin, spent a couple of years with Clannad in the early 1980s, and went on to pursue a successful solo career as Enya.
Brennan released her first solo album, Máire, in 1992 on Atlantic Records. Misty Eyed Adventures on BMG followed three years later. In 1998, Brennan signed with Word Records and released Perfect Time. Whisper to the Wild Water followed a year later. ‘Whisper to the Wild Water’ was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best New Age Album in 2001. Brennan was managed by her husband Tim Jarvis and her brother Leon Ó Braonáin. Her music was usually classified as new age or Celtic. She accepted the Celtic label, but at times indicated slight discomfort with being seen as “new age”, as much of her music was strongly Christian and several of her songs were centred on maintaining a relationship with Jesus. Some of her songs showed influences from her Roman Catholic upbringing, or were related to her views concerning Mary, the mother of Jesus. In 1999, she collaborated with dance artist Chicane in performing the vocals on the single “Saltwater”.
In 2000, her autobiography, The Other Side of the Rainbow, was published. She performed her song “Perfect Time” live at World Youth Day in Rome in front of crowds of pilgrims and Pope John Paul II. There were 2.1 million people present, the largest crowd ever gathered in the Northern Hemisphere. She considered this an honour as she believed in mutual respect among Christians. Moya also recorded on the event’s album, One. She recorded a duet with Booley, now known as Duke Special. The song, titled “Peace Has Broken Out”, was about the Troubles in Ireland. In 2008 or 2009 she legally changed her name by deed poll to Moya Brennan. She released an album under this name entitled Two Horizons in 2003 on her new label, Universal.
In 2006, Brennan released a Christmas album entitled An Irish Christmas, although it was originally planned to have the title Love Came Down. A year later, she released her album Signature, which she described as a collection of snapshots of her life. While touring this album in 2007 and 2008, Brennan recorded several collaborations and guest vocals on albums by Iona, Joanne Hogg and with Grand Canal on Ireland’s Official Olympic Anthem, “Green to Gold”. All three recordings were in aid of charities. Her 2008–2009 live album Heart Strings was recorded with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Julie Feeney, and she toured extensively in the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland and England to promote the album.
2013, Brennan released a new studio album, Voices & Harps – Affinity in collaboration with harpist Cormac de Barra, as a follow-up to the album ‘Voices & Harps’ which was released in 2011. It contained new music composed by Brennan and de Barra, several traditional tunes in Irish and a cover of the Christopher Cross song “Sailing”, which was the album’s lead single. Brennan released Canvas in 2017, her first solo album in almost a decade. Co-written by her two children, Aisling and Paul, the album was released on 24 February 2017 and was supported by a UK, Irish and European tour in 2018. In 2020, Brennan was part of an Irish collective of female singers and musicians called “Irish Women in Harmony” who recorded a version of the song “Dreams” in aid of the charity Safe Ireland, which dealt with domestic abuse that had risen significantly during the COVID-19 lockdown.
