Eleanor McEvoy

In a world where the word star and the gift of talent are often devalued, Eleanor McEvoy is neither an overnight success nor a four week wonder. A musician and songwriter of note, the real deal, possessing all of the qualities that go to make up the complete artist.
Her career began at the age of four when she took piano lessons, taking up violin at the age of eight. Upon finishing school she attended Trinity College in Dublin where she studied music by day and worked in pit orchestras and music clubs by night.
Eleanor graduated from Trinity and was accepted into the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland where she worked four years before finally taking the plunge to concentrate on her passion for songwriting.
After a long hard slog, the girl who spent the year of 1988 busking in Union Square, New York had come a long way, a route that took her through the disciplines of classical music, Irish traditional music and contemporary music to a point where she finally found success in 1992.
It happened when one of her songs "Only a Woman's Heart" inspired the title for, and appeared on, the "A Woman's Heart" anthology album. It has since gone on to become the best selling album in Irish history, staying in the Irish Top 10 for over a year.
Since then Eleanor has gone on to become an artist and performer known throughout the world. Her critically acclaimed canon of work spans six albums, several singles and appearances on numerous compilation albums and is today recognised as Ireland’s most successful female singer songwriter having enjoyed personal chart success and numerous cover versions of her songs. (Emmylou Harris, Mary Black, Phil Coulter, amongst others). Her song “All I Have” features in the lastest series of the HBO cult series “Six Feet Under”
Her co-writing song credits have seen her published with fellow writers and performers such as Rodney Crowell, Lloyd Cole, Johnny Rivers, Brad Parker, Henry Priestman and Dave Rotheray.
The new album “Out There” takes a hard look at the precarious nature of our new wealthy world as well as throwing new light on the idiosyncrasies of love and life. The songs are fresh, the tunes infectious, the lyrics wry and witty and the playing gorgeous.“Out There” features 12 brand new Eleanor McEvoy compositions, plus a co-write with The Beautiful South’s Dave Rotheray and an interpretation of Marvin Gaye's “Mercy Mercy Me.” Press reviews have been exceptional:
Daily Telegraph “Bags of class..... her writing gets better & better”. (Feb. 2007)
MOJO “massively underrated Irish sing / songwriter, McEvoy raises the stakes with an ambitious self-produced, self-arranged album..... immaculately tuneful, lyrically potent tales of love and life.” (Feb. 2007)
Uncut “Irish chanteuse finds the grit on fifth album. The songs are wry, witty and gritty and if you heard "Non Smoking Single Female" blind you might easily hazard it was Martha Wainwright.
Maverick 5 out of 5 stars. “First class songs sung by a genuinely soulful singer.”
Irish Times “McEvoy still surprises with her jagged-edged personality that celebrates rather than suppresses dissonance”
Hot Press “... boy does she go all the way on this one; never mind Gillian Welch, the Carter clan would be impressed by this” Feb. 2007)
Hifi + “10 out of 10" for Recording and Performance. “....get it now, because this is one album you don’t want to be waiting for”
Hifi + 'Out There' named Album of the Year.
Capital News October 2007 Vol 32 No. 10 "Out There" it’s a rare moment when you start listening to an unfamiliar artist and are completely blown away by their freshness, originality and talent. But that’s definitely what happened with this album, recorded by Irish singer/songwriter ELEANOR McEVOY, who visited Australia earlier in the year to perform at several folk festivals. She is best known for writing Only A Woman’s Heart, the title track of an anthology album that’s gone on to be the best-selling recording in Irish history. Eleanor’s strong Irish accent only adds to her compelling renditions of her quirky, perceptive tunes, ranging from love ballads and story songs to left-of-centre takes on the vagaries of life. Her music is diverse and always both unexpected and compelling. There are many, many highlights on this bumper 22-track album, but the real standouts for me were the powerful To Sweep Away A Fool, the compelling So Much Trouble, the gentle story of long-time love, Little Look, and the evocative Three Nights In November. Let’s hope this is not Eleanor McEvoy’s only foray into the Australian music scene.
BBC Radio 4 Loose Ends Clive Anderson declares Eleanor McEvoy’s live performance of ‘Old New Borrowed and Blue’ “Excellent”