Editing Enya (section)

===1980–1982: Clannad===
In 1970, several members of Enya's family formed [[Clannad]], a [[Celtic music|Celtic]] folk band.<ref name="Enyafaq" /><ref>{{cite web|last=Thomas|first=Stephen|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/enya-p4197|title=Enya|website=AllMusic|access-date=11 May 2012}}</ref> Clannad hired [[Nicky Ryan]] as their manager, sound engineer, and producer, and Ryan's girlfriend (later his wife) [[Roma Ryan|Roma]] as tour manager and administrator.<ref name="verybestofenya-nicky">{{Cite AV media notes|first=Nicky|last=Ryan|title=The Very Best of Enya (Collector's Edition)|year=2009|type=CD booklet notes ("It's Been a Long Time"|publisher=Warner Music|id=825646850051}}</ref><ref name=musician1989>{{Cite journal|journal=Musician|date=May 1989|title=Enya: Clannad's Little Sister Sails Away|first=Michael|last=Azerrad|url=http://www.enyabookofdays.com/articles/wm-25.htm|access-date=3 January 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304092646/http://www.enyabookofdays.com/articles/wm-25.htm|archive-date=4 March 2016}}</ref> In 1980, after a year at college, Enya decided not to go to university and pursue a music degree, and instead accepted Nicky Ryan's invitation to play alongside the band Clannad, with him having wanted to expand their sound with keyboards and an additional vocalist.<ref name="verybestofenya-nicky"/><ref name="hotpress2016">{{cite web|last=Stokes|first=Niall|date=25 January 2016|title=An Interview With Enya: She Moves in Mysterious Ways|url=http://www.hotpress.com/Enya/music/interviews/An-Interview-With-Enya-She-Moves-In-Mysterious-Ways/16620990.html|access-date=13 February 2017|work=Hot Press}}</ref> Enya performed an uncredited role on their sixth studio album, ''[[Crann Úll]]'' (1980), with a line-up of her eldest siblings [[Máire Brennan|Moya]], [[Pól Brennan|Pól]], and [[Ciarán Brennan]], and twin uncles [[Noel Duggan|Noel]] and [[Pádraig Duggan]]. She features in their follow-up, ''[[Fuaim]]'' (1982), singing lead vocals on the song "An Túll" (The Apple).<ref name=billboard25Nov95>{{Cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pw0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA5|title=Enya: 'Memory,' Myth & Mythology|first=Timothy|last=White|date=25 November 1995|magazine=Billboard|page=5|access-date=24 June 2016}}</ref>

The membership status of Enya in Clannad is a matter of some dispute. In a late 2000s interview, Ciarán mentioned that Enya was a 'hired hand' and not a full member, commenting that 'she was 18, 19 and we were paying her £500 sterling a week.'<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Jackson|first=Joe|date=18 February 2007|title=The Beach Boy from Gweedore |website=Independent.ie |url-status=dead |url=https://www.independent.ie/unsorted/features/the-beach-boy-from-gweedore-122288.html|access-date=2023-08-16|archive-date=24 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024031218/https://www.independent.ie/unsorted/features/the-beach-boy-from-gweedore-122288.html}}</ref> In a BBC Radio Ulster interview with Moya in late 2023, she also noted that Enya was considered a hired hand with Clannad.<ref name="18:21">{{Cite web|date=2023-12-19|website=BBC Radio Ulster - Irish Music Icons |title=Video - Irish Music Icons - Moya Brennan |publisher=BBC |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0h0km63|access-date=2024-01-30}}</ref> Nicky Ryan also said it was not his intention to make Enya a permanent member, as she was 'fiercely independent [...] intent on playing her own music. She was just not sure of how to go about it.'<ref name="verybestofenya-nicky" />

In a 1991 interview, Enya herself said that she 'wouldn't call what happened a "split"and that she 'wasn't really a full member of Clannad.' Enya added 'I always felt I was just passing through [...] I was 18 and had studied music and was really feeling my way, trying to see what I could do.'<ref name=":10">{{Cite web |date=2007-08-27 |title=Enya: Shepherd Moons Rise over Watermark |url=http://www.enyabookofdays.com/Articles/SM_01.htm |access-date=2024-11-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070827051447/http://www.enyabookofdays.com/Articles/SM_01.htm |archive-date=27 August 2007 }}</ref>

Nicky discussed the idea of layering vocals to create a "choir of one" with Enya, a concept inspired by [[Phil Spector]]'s [[Wall of Sound]] technique that had interested them both.<ref name="verybestofenya-nicky" />

During a Clannad tour in Switzerland, 1982, Nicky called for a band meeting to address internal issues that had arisen, which he put down to the excessive drinking of one or two members.<ref name="Petersen_ivw">{{Cite news|last=Petersen|first=Anne Helen|date=2015-11-22|title=Inside Enya's Irish Kingdom|url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/annehelenpetersen/the-keys-to-enyas-kingdom|access-date=2023-09-04|work=BuzzFeed}}</ref> He recalled: 'It was short and only required a vote, I was a minority of one and lost. Roma and I were out. This left the question of what happened with Enya. I decided to stand back and say nothing.'<ref name="verybestofenya-nicky"/> Enya chose to leave with the Ryans and pursue a solo career, having felt confined in the group and disliking being 'somebody in the background'. In an extended interview from 1989, Enya said that 'I wasn't composing it [the music], I was just ''there'', you know.'<ref>{{Cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pEWSFS1FTg&list=PLwxTcrfBJvX9wXpd0731gV4qQRXusmsHZ|title=Coincidence|access-date=2024-04-23|via=YouTube}}</ref> The split caused some friction between the parties but, in time, they settled their differences.<ref name=musician1989/> Enya's brother Ciarán also spoke to Nicky Ryan around 2006, interested in recording in their studio with her, but Ryan suggested that this was unlikely to occur.<ref name=":0" /> Moya often praises Enya for what she has gone on to achieve in her solo career, and supposes that there were some musical foundations that Enya had built from her short time with the band.<ref name="18:21"/>