A lot of people don't know what I look like, or what I do.
As with anything creative, change is inevitable.
Fame and success are very different things.
Fine-tuning is all-important, and you've got to stay there until you get it right. That's why it can take years.
For people who don't know the connection with Irish mythology, that they will interpret their own thoughts with it.
For someone who was studying music for six, seven years, and all of a sudden, I'm on stage, the experience was tremendous.
I always felt that if pregnancy was to happen, it would happen; if it didn't, it didn't.
I am not one of these composers that are walking along a beach or on the mountainside.
I am not reclusive. I just have a private life.
I am privileged to do a job I love to do. I would never change any moment from my life.
I am really a very shy person. If I appear, it is because of the music, not because I want to be seen.
I can only be who I am.
I could have been more famous if I did all the glitzy things, but celebrity always seemed so unnecessary.
I didn't expect such a huge reaction, but I knew I was doing something different to everything else that was happening at the time.
I do a so-called trip into myself: I sit down at the piano and the melody might start to evolve from my playing or then I might start to sing it.
I do promotion when it is necessary, but I always want to get back to the music.
I don't have pets, I have two guard dogs; and I don't do my own shopping; it's a security thing.
I don't need a man in my life.
I enjoyed the two years I was with Clannad. I enjoyed touring. We toured a lot in Europe.
I felt as if we were two families: the older ones, who were away touring when I was at school and the younger ones.
I go to the studio and I record my ideas until I feel there's a melody that's going to move me in some way.
I have had death threats from people with fixations.
I know every note in every song, the whole history of it, even parts that were there and are gone.
I like to stay up to date with what's happening musically.
I listen to the melody and usually do a harmony to it with a sound that feels very natural for me to sing.
I need an uninterrupted flow, and I can give myself wholly to the music. It's much better creatively for me.
I started writing instrumentals but they were very visual.
I tend to listen to the classical composers: Rachmaninov, Satie.
I thought it would be nice to create this blessing for the elves.
I told the record company I didn't feel the need to be at red-carpet events. I wanted a career. But I wanted to keep myself intact as a person.
I use my voice as an instrument.
I want as normal life as possible at home, with dinner parties and entertaining.
I went to boarding school at 12, and from that point became very independent.
I would never change a single day out of my life. It would be lovely to get a family one day, but my life doesn't end even if that would not happen.
I'm dealing with the unknown all the time.
I'm not one for walking the beaches humming a melody. I love the discipline of sitting in the studio, writing and listening. That is my domain.
It wasn't so long ago that it was not popular to speak Gaelic in Ireland because the areas that Gaelic is spoken in were much poorer areas.
It's difficult to know what we'll move on to next. We don't like to say.
It's very homely, this castle. It doesn't have huge ballrooms. I didn't want a cold, cavernous place.
Music is like a mirror in front of you. You're exposing everything, but surely that's better than suppressing.
My core beliefs revolve around the idea that we should live to the best of our abilities-we should live and let live.
My fans, they'll talk about their favorite song, but so many of them seem to be able to interpret their own emotions with the music.
My first language is Gaelic.
Nicky will place my left ear in the headphones and I'll sing the same part again until Nicky feels he has the right sound.
One does never know beforehand whose idea works the best way.
Over in the UK, the music press can be brutal. They can say wonderful things about you one week, and the next week, you're in the can.
People feel a very personal connection with the music. There might be one little thing that makes all the difference, one note or one word.
People listen to the music and sense what it is about. Sometimes they know exactly what the songs are about, sometimes they interpret their own meaning to the music, and that's great when this happens because it shows it's striking a chord.
People tend to think that because I need all this time on my own in the studio, that I need time on my own, period. And that's not really true.
Singing in Gaelic is very, very natural to do. I think lends itself very much so to being sung.
So many people are so afraid to take that step and there is always a risk factor involved, but it's so rewarding when you take the step.
Standing in the streets singing wouldn't be something that I would be known for.
The Druids held the trees as very sacred.
The house was always open to music. I felt very protected and loved in the family and depended on other people to make decisions for me.
The minuses of celebrity include having to live with security and the knowledge that you may be stalked.
The music sold itself before anybody knew who I was.
The ocean is a central image. It is the symbolism of a great journey.
The personal appearances and red carpet events are very glitzy, but it's a bit false.
The success of Watermark surprised me. I never thought of music as something commercial; it was something very personal to me.
The writing of a melody is an emotional moment; success doesn't make it easy.
There is no formula to it. Writing every song is a little journey. The first note has to lift you.
There's a certain way I like the music to be performed, and I feel I can capture it better than anyone else.
They know the music, but they don't know anything about me. I keep a very private lifestyle.
Usually I write the melody. Then, myself and Nicky will get into the studio and start to arrange the melody.
We're very open to suggestion. The work is very personal, very intimate, very emotional-that is very important.
When I go home to Donegal, I still speak in Gaeilge to everybody.
When I release an album, I like to go round and talk about the music. But only for so many months, and then that's it for me.
When I was growing up, I'd be in the choir. My mum was the organist in the church, so I'd sing in the church.
When making music I sink myself into the process as deeply as I can and forget all of the success.
With my music, I can express myself so much. A lot of the fans can sense that I'm relating to them something that's quite personal.
Working with Roma, when I play her a melody, I don't have to tell her what the melody is about. She knows. So it's a wonderful combination.
Writing music on your own makes you think a lot about your life. Who are you? Would you change anything about yourself? This is where it comes from.
Enya was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for best original song for her song "May it be".
Enya will recieve a Honorary Doctorate from the National University of Galway in June 2007.
Her favourite music composer is Sergei Rachmaninoff.
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