MY CHRISTMAS... ANDREA CORR
THE SINGER’S FAVOURITE PRESENT WAS A MARRIAGE PROPOSAL WHILE ON HOLIDAY IN BARBADOS
ANDREA Corr, 46, found fame alongside her siblings in folkpop group The Corrs, notching up a string of hit albums before launching a solo career in 2007. After a break, she’s just recorded an EP of Christmas songs.
What does Christmas mean to you?
Now, it’s very much to do with the children. My daughter Jean is eight and my son Brett is six. It’s a very exciting time for them. And Christmas is also about gratitude for things that have happened in the past year.
Lots of Christmas decorations or do you keep things minimal?
It’s quite minimal — they’re all red and gold. The children were born in Washington in America, we lived there for a few years, and our friends there bought us a Christmas ornament. It’s nice to have that on the tree and remember our time there. And the children have made decorations. We have one on the tree that my son made at nursery school.
Real or artificial tree?
I prefer a real one because of the smell — it’s very special having a real tree in the house and I miss it when it’s gone.
What are your favourite Christmas songs?
I love Fairy Tale Of New York – it’s a brilliant song. O Holy Night is my favourite Christmas carol. I’ve recorded it on my new EP. I used to sing it with my Dad as a child — it was a bit Von Trapp. One year, when I was around seven, he asked me to sing it with him at church — he played the organ at mass. I practised but I chickened out, I was overwhelmed with nerves. I’ve also included Have
Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, but it’s the Judy Garland version she recorded during World War II.
It has lyrics about how next year will be better than this year. The lyrics really resonate with Covid.
What’s the best Christmas present you’ve received?
My husband proposed to me on Christmas Eve when we were on holiday in Barbados. That was a good present. It was also my first time away from Ireland for Christmas. And I loved the ghetto blaster I got when I was around 12. It had a double tape deck. I remember playing Nik Kershaw’s Radio Musicola album on it a lot — my brother Jim got it for me.
Was there any sibling rivalry over presents?
Sharon is four years older than me so her presents wouldn’t have suited me and neither would Jim’s, although I did play with his train set but he didn’t know. There wasn’t any rivalry between me and Caroline even though there’s just a year between us. One year we all got bikes which was great. Caroline’s was a shopping bike with a basket on the front and I got a racer, so mine was cooler. If there was ever a moment of rivalry it would have been over the shopping bike.
What makes Christmas dinner complete?
I like red cabbage with turkey – it’s very nice. I’ve made it for years. And I like making a Dundee cake for Christmas.
What do you like most/least about Christmas?
I like the buzz of Christmas and getting together with friends and family. But if things are bad Christmas can seem to make them worse. When mum died, my dad would say Christmas is a time of absences. It’s true – there’s a recognition of who isn’t there at Christmas. But Christmas is also a time to reflect and give thanks for what we do have.
Did you ever perform in a school nativity?
I don’t remember being in any. My children have done it, though. My daughter is about to play an angel for the third year running, if she wasn’t my daughter I might be getting a bit envious, and my son is being a wise man for the second time. I have to make his hat.
Favourite Christmas films?
I love It’s A Wonderful Life – it’s not Christmas without that. When I first met my husband we watched it and I have a suspicion he might have shed a tear. And I like Elf, it really makes me laugh.
Christmas or NYE?
Christmas. I find New Year’s Eve very emotional. The build up to midnight is quite tense and I usually cry but get over it quickly.
Worst hangover?
When I was a teenager, me and my sisters used to work in our aunty’s pub in Dundalk. Working on New Year’s Eve was much better than working on a normal night, it was great craic. One New Year’s Eve, everyone who worked there stayed behind afterwards and I drank a lot of gin. So much I can’t stand the smell of gin now. I was very unwell.
Andrea Corr’s Christmas Songs EP is out now, Instagram @andreacorrofficial
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