Sharon Corr

Sharon Corr played a key role in shaping the Corrs’ blend of traditional Irish elements with pop and rock, and she became the second member of the globally successful group to pursue solo work. Born in Dundalk, Ireland, in 1970, she was raised in a household steeped in music, as her parents Gerry and Jean performed in a touring covers band. When sister Caroline declined to continue violin lessons, Sharon assumed the instrument, eventually performing with national and youth orchestras and earning qualification as a violin instructor. After completing one year of science studies at college, she ran a record shop and took shifts at her aunt’s pub, where she and brother Jim formed a duo that performed on site until Caroline and Andrea completed the lineup that became the Corrs.

As one of the era’s leading acts in the late 1990s, the band moved millions of albums worldwide, placed 12 singles inside the U.K. Top 40—including the chart-topping “Breathless”—mounted multiple sold-out arena tours, and issued five studio albums before entering a hiatus in 2005. Sharon composed several of the group’s major successes, among them “So Young” and “Radio,” along with every instrumental track on their albums. She stepped forward as a solo performer only in 2009, making her debut appearances at the Glastonbury and Isle of Wight festivals and issuing the Children in Need charity single “Me and My Teddy Bear.”

Her first solo album, Dream of You, was helmed by longtime associate Billy Farrell and included contributions from Jeff Beck and Spanish singer Alex Ubago. The set, which contained the singles “It’s Not a Dream” and “Everybody’s Got to Learn Sometime,” reached number 22 in Ireland and number 37 in the U.K. Additional credits include appearances on recordings by Bryn Terfel and Jean Michel Jarre, a Grammy nomination for the theme to the BBC drama Rebel Heart, and service as an ambassador for Nelson Mandela’s 46664 AIDS awareness initiative. Her independent releases extended into the early 2010s with 2013’s The Same Sun; nearly ten years afterward she issued her fourth solo album, The Fool & the Scorpion.