Celtic Woman from left to right are Lynn Hilary, Alex Sharpe, Máiréad Nesbitt, Chloë Agnew, and Lisa Kelly.
How do you break into Celtic Woman? For Lynn Hilary, it was preparing to do a lot of laundry. Not!
When she joined Irish singing sensation Celtic Woman, Lynn Hilary endured a tortuous hazing.
"I had to do their laundry for the first six months," she said before pausing. "No, I'm just kidding! When I came out on tour, the girls were so easygoing. After a few months, I felt like I fit right in, like part of the family."
So much for backstage cat-fighting or diva histrionics. None of that goes on with Celtic Woman, the super-polished quintet that's become a pop sensation through five PBS specials, relentless touring, and airy, lushly produced hit albums.
"Songs from the Heart," their latest CD, is planted at No. 1 on Billboard's world-music chart.
Hilary joined in October 2007, replacing Méav Ní Mhaolchatha, who departed to concentrate on a solo career. By then, the group was already huge, which made filling Ní's pipes a tall order.
"To replace a singer like Ní was so daunting. I was a big fan of hers, and still am. I knew she had a lot of fans who would not be wanting her to leave and would be taking that out on me," Hilary said. "I worried they'd be judgmental, but they weren't really -- not to my face, anyway.
"But I knew the show was such a phenomenon, and to step into that, from being a nobody, was such a daunting thing."
Her modesty is genuine but misplaced. Before Celtic Woman, she sang with another outfit that enjoyed a wee bit of success. You know it as "Riverdance."
"With a big show like that, you don't associate yourself really as an individual; it's more like you're just part of the show," Hilary insisted. "But 'Riverdance' was an amazing experience. I just loved it. I'd watch it from the side stage every night.
"Actually, from when I first went to see it, I was obsessed with it. I thought it was the coolest thing I'd ever seen. So I was overjoyed to get the job with 'Riverdance' and now with Celtic Woman. I feel like all my wishes have come at once."
Many of Celtic Woman's creative personnel previously worked with "Riverdance," so Hilary wasn't surprised about getting summoned. She plunged right in with help from her Celtic Woman sisters: Chloë Agnew, Alex Sharpe, Lisa Kelly (another Riverdance transplant), and fiddler Máiréad Nesbitt.
"That's all you can do is brave the storm, kind of find your feet when you're just thrown in the deep end. I had to do it; I had to get up and sing in front of all these people and find my feet quickly. The girls were amazing and helpful and supportive."
"Songs from the Heart," Hilary's second recording and PBS special with Celtic Woman, continues their signature approach. They enchant you with Irish standards, modern-day pop songs, and classical airs, which they perform as if floating on an astral plane.
Celtic Woman practically lulls you into a calm, blissful stupor through the sheer beauty of their breathy voices. They evoke a romantic, idealized view of Ireland, one that audiences devour.
"A lot of people have Irish in their blood, so that's what people want to connect back to -- their roots or an image of Ireland that's beautiful and serene and an ethereal place," Hilary said.
"It's a beautiful, beautiful country. Nothing's wrong with having a healthy image of somewhere else, somewhere people always want to be."
At Tuesday's concert, expect lots of billowing smoke and video imagery from Powerscourt House and Gardens, the lush Irish setting for their "Songs from the Heart" PBS special and DVD. The CD features such pop songs as Sting's "Fields of Gold" and Mariah Carey's "When You Believe," the sweet lullaby "Goodnight My Angel," and such Irish fare as "Galway Bay," "Nil Se'n La," and "My Lagan Love."
"I personally like the traditional Irish music," said Hilary. "That music will never die. It's just so beautiful. People will say they've heard 'Danny Boy' enough. But it's a classic, a beautiful, beautiful song, and you can never have too many versions of it, I don't think."
She grew up 15 minutes outside Ireland, weaned on Irish music and lore. In some ways, performing with Celtic Woman seemed preordained for Hilary.
"My mom is an amazing singer, and my dad, he does a great Elvis impersonation," she said. "My brother played bass. I was surrounded by music growing up; I couldn't avoid it. It was around me all the time, and I was always singing and dancing. I think I just had it in me."
Preview by Dave Richards
Staff writer
Erie Times-News
GoErie.com
Published: February 18. 2010 12:01AM
