http://www.sundayworld.com/entertainment/music/songwriter-sherry-is-a-real-winter-warmerSecret Garden
IRISH music star Fionnuala Sherry reveals that she lost out on the chance to earn a fortune from hit song, You Raise Me Up, which has been recorded by everyone from Westlife to Il Divo. Violinist Sherry, who comes from Naas, Co Kildare, played a central role in the creation of the song that has sold millions around the world.
Fionnuala, who performs with Norwegian musician Rolf Lovland as the duo, Secret Garden - they won the 1995 Eurovision Song Contest for Norway - worked on the first version of You Raise Me Up.
"When Rolf and I started working on the melody, I recorded the very first version with just the air itself," Sherry tells the Sunday World.
Sherry then suggested that they should approach Irish songwriter and author Brendan Graham. "I said to Rolf that I thought Brendan
was the person who could actually write lyrics big enough and spiritual enough," she recalls.
"I could feel and hear what the lyrics would be. I came back to Ireland, contacted Brendan and put the whole thing together."
As it turned out, the song has earned a fortune for for Rolf Lovland and Brendan Graham, while Fionnuala gets modest royalties for her own recording of the song.
Sherry insists she's not bitter over the deal. "Everybody who knows me knows that I'm not driven by money," she adds.
"Rolf and I are 17 years together and there is nobody I know who can write a tune like him."
Fionnuala describes Secret Garden's new album, Winter Poem, as: "An album to chill out to by the fire with a big glass of wine."
IRISH music star Fionnuala Sherry reveals that she lost out on the chance to earn a fortune from hit song, You Raise Me Up, which has been recorded by everyone from Westlife to Il Divo. Violinist Sherry, who comes from Naas, Co Kildare, played a central role in the creation of the song that has sold millions around the world.
Fionnuala, who performs with Norwegian musician Rolf Lovland as the duo, Secret Garden - they won the 1995 Eurovision Song Contest for Norway - worked on the first version of You Raise Me Up.
"When Rolf and I started working on the melody, I recorded the very first version with just the air itself," Sherry tells the Sunday World.
Sherry then suggested that they should approach Irish songwriter and author Brendan Graham. "I said to Rolf that I thought Brendan
was the person who could actually write lyrics big enough and spiritual enough," she recalls.
"I could feel and hear what the lyrics would be. I came back to Ireland, contacted Brendan and put the whole thing together."
As it turned out, the song has earned a fortune for for Rolf Lovland and Brendan Graham, while Fionnuala gets modest royalties for her own recording of the song.
Sherry insists she's not bitter over the deal. "Everybody who knows me knows that I'm not driven by money," she adds.
"Rolf and I are 17 years together and there is nobody I know who can write a tune like him."
Fionnuala describes Secret Garden's new album, Winter Poem, as: "An album to chill out to by the fire with a big glass of wine."
