Enya is the debut studio album by Irish singer, songwriter, and musician Enya, released in March 1987 by BBC Records in the UK and by Atlantic Records in the US. It was renamed as The Celts for the 1992 international re-release of the album by WEA Records in Europe and by Reprise Records in the US. The album features a selection of music that she recorded for the soundtrack to The Celts, a BBC documentary series about the origins, growth, and influence of Celtic culture.
Four years into her largely unnoticed solo career, Enya landed her first major project in 1985 when producer Tony McAuley asked her to contribute a song for the project. It was well received by director David Richardson, who subsequently offered her to compose for the entire series. Enya worked with her longtime recording partners, producer and arranger Nicky Ryan and his wife, lyricist Roma Ryan. Several track titles are titled or based on various historical and mythological figures and stories associated with the Celts, and established Enya's sound of keyboard-oriented music and layered vocals. "Boadicea" has been sampled by various artists, most notably in 1996 by The Fugees and in 2004 by Mario Winans with P. Diddy.
Enya received mostly mixed reviews from critics when it was initially released. It was commercial success in Ireland, peaking at No. 8, and No. 69 on the UK Albums Chart. "I Want Tomorrow" and "The Celts" were released as singles; the latter went to No. 29 in the UK. The album caught the attention of Warner chairman Rob Dickins, who signed Enya to the label. After the commercial success of her next two albums, Enya was reissued as The Celts and outperformed its original sales; it went to No. 10 in the UK and was certified Platinum in the UK and the US. In 2009, The Celts was reissued in Japan with a bonus track.
Background and recording
Following her work on the soundtrack to the romantic comedy film The Frog Prince (1984), Enya's first major project as a solo artist followed when, in 1985, she was invited by producer Tony McAuley to compose a track for his 1987 BBC television documentary series The Celts. As a coincidence, Enya had recorded a track named "March of the Celts" before she was asked to be involved, and decided to submit it to the project. Initially, each episode of the series was to feature a different composer, but series director David Richardson liked Enya's track so much, he commissioned her to compose the entire score.
Enya worked with her usual recording partners, arranger and producer Nicky Ryan and his wife, lyricist Roma Ryan. The album was recorded in two locations; at Aigle Studio, a 16-track studio installed in the Ryans' home, then located in Artane, a northern suburb of Dublin, and a sound studio at BBC Enterprises at Wood Lane, London. When they recorded at the BBC studio, Nicky had to teach the audio engineers how he and Enya worked as their unusual recording process confused them at first. Nicky said he told them "to forget everything [they had] learned and just bear with us for at least a week". One such example was Nicky's use of reverb, which he set to 24 seconds instead of the more common placement of one-and-a-half seconds.
A total of 72 minutes of music was recorded for the series. Roma recalled that Enya was given "various pastiches" that Richardson wished to incorporate into the episodes, which Enya then used as a guide for to write music to complement them. Enya includes 39 minutes of selected pieces from the soundtrack. The album's front cover depicts Enya posing with stuffed wolves.