Eleanor McEvoy

Eleanor McEvoy (born 22 January 1967) is an Irish singer-songwriter.

She composed the song "Only a Woman's Heart", title track of A Woman's Heart, the best-selling Irish album in Irish history.

McEvoy's life as a musician began at the age of four when she began playing piano.

At the age of eight she took up violin.

Upon finishing school she attended Trinity College Dublin where she studied music by day and worked in pit orchestras and music clubs by night.

McEvoy graduated from Trinity with an Honors Degree in music in 1988, and spent four months busking in New York City.

In 1988, she was accepted into the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra where she spent four years before leaving to concentrate on songwriting.

McEvoy built up a following in clubs in Dublin with her three-piece band, Jim Tate on bass, Noel Eccles on drums, and latterly Bill Shanley on guitar.

During a solo date in July 1992, she performed a little-known, self-penned song, "Only a Woman's Heart".

Mary Black, of whose band McEvoy was a member, was in the audience and invited her to add the track to an album of Irish female artists.

The album was subsequently titled A Woman's Heart and the track was released as the lead single.

A few days before A Woman's Heart was released, Tom Zutaut A&R from Geffen Records, who had previously signed Guns N' Roses, Mötley Crüe, and Edie Brickell, offered McEvoy a worldwide recording deal after watching her perform at The Baggot Inn in Dublin.

The album went on to sell over three-quarters of a million copies in Ireland alone and was (and remains) the biggest-selling Irish album of all time.

Eleanor McEvoy, her first album, recorded in Windmill Lane Studios, was released in February 1993, and tours in the United States, Asia, and Europe followed.

Back on Irish soil, McEvoy was awarded Best New Artist, Best New Performer, and Best Songwriter Awards by the Irish entertainment and music industries.

As she began writing her second album, Tom Zutaut left Geffen Records, and McEvoy was offered and accepted a new deal with Columbia Records US.

The new album, What's Following Me?, was released in 1996.

The single "Precious Little" became a top-10 radio hit in the United States, giving McEvoy the exposure she needed for a headline tour of the US.

She was invited to contribute to a number of movie and TV soundtracks.

McEvoy released her third album, Snapshots, in 1999.

Her primary goal was to make Snapshots her most song-oriented album to date.

Toward that goal, McEvoy teamed up with producer Rupert Hine and recorded the album at Rupert's "Chateau de la Tour de Moulin" and then in Metropolis Studios in London.

The extensive use of drum loops was a complete change in style from her previous work.

The album was greeted by rave reviews on both sides of the Atlantic.

"... her sophisticated voice and compassionate seasoned lyrics ... make Eleanor McEvoy's album a gem...."

declared The Boston Globe, while The Sunday Times described it as "her strongest album to date, with well-appointed social comment topics...McEvoy's take on matters emotional also hits pay dirt with the likes of the excellent 'Did You Tell Him?'" However, Columbia Records had been unprepared for the complete stylistic change and relations between the company and McEvoy became strained.

Despite this, a sell-out, 24-date tour of the United States accompanied the release of Snapshots in the summer of 1999, followed by the "Snapshots Unplugged" tour March–April 2000, which culminated in a performance in Boulder, Colorado accompanied by the E Town Band where she duetted with Richard Thompson.

Columbia Records had bought her first album Eleanor McEvoy from Geffen Records, but had not released it by 2000.

Neither What's Following Me? nor Snapshots had enjoyed major chart success, and McEvoy's public perception, particularly in Ireland, was caught in a limbo state between rock and folk, with "A Woman's Heart" and its many incarnations still lurking in the back of the minds of the record-buying public.

Increasingly, McEvoy started to work on outside projects.

The Bert Jansch tribute album People on the Highway – A Bert Jansch Encomium (2000) saw a newly recorded version of Jansch's song about Sandy Denny, "Where Did My Life Go?", recorded by McEvoy especially for the album.

Participating artists included Al Stewart, Roy Harper, Bernard Butler, Donovan, and Ralph McTell.

McEvoy decided to take her fourth album and head down the independent road.

Yola was a turning point in McEvoy's musical direction.

Released in 2001, it reflected the acoustic, jazz-influenced style she had developed on stage with Brian Connor.

For McEvoy it was a new departure and one that found favour with music media.

Irish Music Press described it as .... "her finest album", "a brave rejection of the predictable", "musically daring....beautifully atmospheric".

International press lauded it as "a back to basics triumph", "beautifully restrained", "a classic", and "McEvoy's best release to date".

Extensive touring throughout the US and the UK followed.

In 2002, Yola was named "Record of the Year" by Hi-Fi+ Magazine.