Post by snookyjojo on Jan 10, 2005 16:54:42 GMT 1
'Jim used to be a woman' Oct 29 2004
By Wil Marlow, Chester Chronicle
They nearly quit - but Dundalk's First Family of Folk are back doing what they love - making music. Wil Marlow met up with Andrea, Sharon and Jim of the Corrs as they prepared to go on the road with a tour which brings them to Manchester on Sunday.
ANDREA Corr rushes into a London hotel room, all apologies for being a little late, despite being the first of her siblings to arrive. She explains that she'd been back to her London home for lunch before coming here and was almost drawn into an afternoon film on BBC Two. She likes her sword and sandals epics.
She arrives on her own because when the other Corrs - Sharon, Jim and the very pregnant Caroline, who's currently on maternity leave - come to London they don't stay at Andrea's flat.
"We see each other enough as it is," explains the 30-year-old through gritted teeth.
While she's only mocking with her gritted teeth, the need for The Corrs to take time out from each other is very real. They went straight from growing up together in Dundalk in County Louth to working together when Jim and Sharon, after gigging locally as a duo, got Caroline and Andrea on board in order to audition for Alan Parker's 1991 film The Commitments.
Since then they haven't stopped. The band's four studio albums and a Best of... have sold 30 million copies around the world (while this year's new album Borrowed Heaven continues to add to that total) and the band's success saw them travelling the globe together.
But living in each other's pockets while working on such a demanding schedule took its toll on the siblings' frayed nerves and they would often take it out on each other.
'It was difficult,' recalls Andrea as her sister Sharon arrives. 'When you first start there's a lot of pressure on you anyway, just as normal people. But when you have all the family stuck together constantly and on a constant feeling of jetlag you all become highly strung.
'And as brother and sisters we let rip a bit more than you do with other people, which is wrong really. There's a lot of taking things for granted when you're family and you think you can get away with saying the worst things ever to each other. We did that and we were very good at it for a while,' she laughs.
'We were champion fighters,' agrees 34-year-old Sharon. Things are different these days. A few things have happened in the Corrs' lives that have made them more respectful to each other. The first was their mother Jean's death in 1999, aged just 57 from a rare lung disease.
It hit the siblings and their father Gerry hard and at least two of the songs of their current album are about their mother.
'I think [her death] will probably resonate with us forever,' says Sharon. 'I don't know if you'll be hearing songs about her on every album but it certainly is the biggest emotional event of our lives. She is and will always be a constant influence. We all believe that.'
In 2001 the band decided to have a break, something else which contributed to the end of the sibling bickering. In that time both Sharon and Caroline got married - to barrister Gavin Bonner and property tycoon Frank Woods respectively - and Caroline had her first child Jake, now one.
Andrea furthered her acting career with a role in the film The Boys From County Clare and met her current actor boyfriend Shaun Evans on set, while Jim, who finally arrives for our interview halfway through (he fell asleep), became a fully-licensed helicopter pilot.
'The break certainly did us good,' says 40-year-old Jim as Andrea gets up to make us all some tea. 'I think we needed to take time out. We needed to get our own lives back and just catch up with domestic stuff.'
So these days the Corrs camp is a much more relaxed place to be. In fact the siblings admit they've changed substantially since they first started out. "Well Jim used to be a woman so he's very much changed,' laughs Andrea. 'He was Jemima.'
'If I didn't have the medication I'd be growing little breasts,' smiles Jim, playing along.
Sharon shakes her head. 'That's going to be the shocker headline.'
When they head out on tour around the UK next month (November) they will be one down. 31-year-old Caroline's second child is due in October and so the band, who also toured the US this summer without her, have had to get in a replacement drummer.
'We did GMTV the other morning without her and she was watching it,' says Andrea. 'Jake was sat there next to her and she was sat in her bath robe.
'We were talking about her and Lorraine Kelly turned to the camera and said, 'Don't eat too much chocolate' and Caroline was halfway to putting some chocolate in her mouth,' she laughs. 'She said it was very strange.
'She's in very good form,' Andrea continues. 'She can't wait to have the baby now. She looks fantastic and she's good and healthy, though she feels very big. Of course she doesn't look it, she's just feeling it."
'It has been strange without her,' adds Jim. 'She contributes so much to the whole thing so we had to work at making it work without her. We certainly had to put in the extra effort.
'But we were lucky in finding the drummer we did - Jason Duffy - who's the brother of our bass player, Keith. It's one thing having a rhythm section that is tight and gels together, but two brothers who have played together most of their lives adds something special to the whole thing.'
It might sound like Caroline should be worrying about whether she'll have a job to come back to, but her family say it's safe.
'That would be awful wouldn't it?' laughs Andrea, her eyes sparkling with astonishment and delight.
'Jason doesn't fit into her dresses you see,' adds Sharon. 'So we have to have her back.'
Another thing that will be missing from the forthcoming tour is any on-stage tension from off-stage rows. Older, wiser and much more chilled out, the days of rows aplenty between the Corrs are no longer.
'Now we just get on with it," says Andrea. 'Things have happened that made it all seem a bit ridiculous. And whenever we get a great vibe off the music or have a great gig, like all families do, we just forget that we've argued. We have a respect for each other now, and give each other space.'
The Corrs new single, Long Night, is out on Monday November 22.
* The Corrs will be appearing at Manchester MEN Arena on Sunday, November 7.
By Wil Marlow, Chester Chronicle
They nearly quit - but Dundalk's First Family of Folk are back doing what they love - making music. Wil Marlow met up with Andrea, Sharon and Jim of the Corrs as they prepared to go on the road with a tour which brings them to Manchester on Sunday.
ANDREA Corr rushes into a London hotel room, all apologies for being a little late, despite being the first of her siblings to arrive. She explains that she'd been back to her London home for lunch before coming here and was almost drawn into an afternoon film on BBC Two. She likes her sword and sandals epics.
She arrives on her own because when the other Corrs - Sharon, Jim and the very pregnant Caroline, who's currently on maternity leave - come to London they don't stay at Andrea's flat.
"We see each other enough as it is," explains the 30-year-old through gritted teeth.
While she's only mocking with her gritted teeth, the need for The Corrs to take time out from each other is very real. They went straight from growing up together in Dundalk in County Louth to working together when Jim and Sharon, after gigging locally as a duo, got Caroline and Andrea on board in order to audition for Alan Parker's 1991 film The Commitments.
Since then they haven't stopped. The band's four studio albums and a Best of... have sold 30 million copies around the world (while this year's new album Borrowed Heaven continues to add to that total) and the band's success saw them travelling the globe together.
But living in each other's pockets while working on such a demanding schedule took its toll on the siblings' frayed nerves and they would often take it out on each other.
'It was difficult,' recalls Andrea as her sister Sharon arrives. 'When you first start there's a lot of pressure on you anyway, just as normal people. But when you have all the family stuck together constantly and on a constant feeling of jetlag you all become highly strung.
'And as brother and sisters we let rip a bit more than you do with other people, which is wrong really. There's a lot of taking things for granted when you're family and you think you can get away with saying the worst things ever to each other. We did that and we were very good at it for a while,' she laughs.
'We were champion fighters,' agrees 34-year-old Sharon. Things are different these days. A few things have happened in the Corrs' lives that have made them more respectful to each other. The first was their mother Jean's death in 1999, aged just 57 from a rare lung disease.
It hit the siblings and their father Gerry hard and at least two of the songs of their current album are about their mother.
'I think [her death] will probably resonate with us forever,' says Sharon. 'I don't know if you'll be hearing songs about her on every album but it certainly is the biggest emotional event of our lives. She is and will always be a constant influence. We all believe that.'
In 2001 the band decided to have a break, something else which contributed to the end of the sibling bickering. In that time both Sharon and Caroline got married - to barrister Gavin Bonner and property tycoon Frank Woods respectively - and Caroline had her first child Jake, now one.
Andrea furthered her acting career with a role in the film The Boys From County Clare and met her current actor boyfriend Shaun Evans on set, while Jim, who finally arrives for our interview halfway through (he fell asleep), became a fully-licensed helicopter pilot.
'The break certainly did us good,' says 40-year-old Jim as Andrea gets up to make us all some tea. 'I think we needed to take time out. We needed to get our own lives back and just catch up with domestic stuff.'
So these days the Corrs camp is a much more relaxed place to be. In fact the siblings admit they've changed substantially since they first started out. "Well Jim used to be a woman so he's very much changed,' laughs Andrea. 'He was Jemima.'
'If I didn't have the medication I'd be growing little breasts,' smiles Jim, playing along.
Sharon shakes her head. 'That's going to be the shocker headline.'
When they head out on tour around the UK next month (November) they will be one down. 31-year-old Caroline's second child is due in October and so the band, who also toured the US this summer without her, have had to get in a replacement drummer.
'We did GMTV the other morning without her and she was watching it,' says Andrea. 'Jake was sat there next to her and she was sat in her bath robe.
'We were talking about her and Lorraine Kelly turned to the camera and said, 'Don't eat too much chocolate' and Caroline was halfway to putting some chocolate in her mouth,' she laughs. 'She said it was very strange.
'She's in very good form,' Andrea continues. 'She can't wait to have the baby now. She looks fantastic and she's good and healthy, though she feels very big. Of course she doesn't look it, she's just feeling it."
'It has been strange without her,' adds Jim. 'She contributes so much to the whole thing so we had to work at making it work without her. We certainly had to put in the extra effort.
'But we were lucky in finding the drummer we did - Jason Duffy - who's the brother of our bass player, Keith. It's one thing having a rhythm section that is tight and gels together, but two brothers who have played together most of their lives adds something special to the whole thing.'
It might sound like Caroline should be worrying about whether she'll have a job to come back to, but her family say it's safe.
'That would be awful wouldn't it?' laughs Andrea, her eyes sparkling with astonishment and delight.
'Jason doesn't fit into her dresses you see,' adds Sharon. 'So we have to have her back.'
Another thing that will be missing from the forthcoming tour is any on-stage tension from off-stage rows. Older, wiser and much more chilled out, the days of rows aplenty between the Corrs are no longer.
'Now we just get on with it," says Andrea. 'Things have happened that made it all seem a bit ridiculous. And whenever we get a great vibe off the music or have a great gig, like all families do, we just forget that we've argued. We have a respect for each other now, and give each other space.'
The Corrs new single, Long Night, is out on Monday November 22.
* The Corrs will be appearing at Manchester MEN Arena on Sunday, November 7.
LET'S DANCE! thanks cyn 
is by far my favourite.....and dancing around naked in my jardin!!!!! LIRPA&LIRPA MAKE MY DAY!
;D
