Secret Garden (duo)
Encyclopedia
Secret Garden is an award-winning Irish
-Norwegian
duo playing New Instrumental Music
, also sometimes erroneously known as Neo-classical
music.
Secret Garden features the Irish violinist Fionnuala Sherry
and the Norwegian composer/pianist Rolf Løvland
. The duo has sold over 3 million albums and won the Eurovision Song Contest
for Norway's second time in 1995 with the composition "Nocturne". It was the first and only time to date that a predominantly instrumental piece has won the Eurovision Song Contest, although a few Norwegian
lyrics, written by screenwriter Petter Skavlan, were included to ensure that the entry adhered to the contest's rules. Norwegian singer Gunnhild Tvinnereim sang the song in the Eurovision Song Contest and Swedish nyckelharpist
Åsa Jinder
also guested on the occasion, although neither are regular members of the group. Ten years earlier Rolf Løvland also co-wrote the song "La det swinge
" (Let it swing) that secured Norway
its first Eurovision Song Contest victory in 1985.
Their success at Eurovision spearheaded the success of their first album Songs from a Secret Garden. It sold a million copies around the world going platinum in Norway and Korea, gold in Ireland, Hong Kong and New Zealand and spending two years in the Billboard New Age
charts in 1996 and 1997. Barbra Streisand
adapted "Heartstrings" from this album as the song "I've Dreamed of You" on her A Love Like Ours
album. She also used "Heartstrings" in her wedding to James Brolin
.
The album White Stones followed in 1997 also making the top ten on Billboard New Age charts. Dawn of a New Century, again with lyrics by Petter Skavlan, in 1999, Dreamcatcher in 2001 and Once in a Red Moon also enjoyed success around the world including reaching top ten on the Billboard.
Their most famous song "You Raise Me Up
", performed by Brian Kennedy
, has been recorded by more than a hundred other artists including Josh Groban
, Russell Watson
, Westlife
, Sissel Kyrkjebø
, Becky Taylor
, Celtic Woman
, Lena Park
, Robert Tremlett and Il Divo
.
Secret Garden has released a Dreamcatcher: Best Of album for its tour through Australia
and New Zealand
in 2004. It reached the top of the Australian New Age charts and the ARIA top 50 album charts.
In 2010 Fionnuala Sherry
released her solo debut entitled Songs From Before
.
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
-Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
duo playing New Instrumental Music
New Age music
New Age music is music of various styles intended to create artistic inspiration, relaxation, and optimism. It is used by listeners for yoga, massage, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management or to create a peaceful atmosphere in their home or other environments, and is often...
, also sometimes erroneously known as Neo-classical
Neoclassicism (music)
Neoclassicism in music was a twentieth-century trend, particularly current in the period between the two World Wars, in which composers sought to return to aesthetic precepts associated with the broadly defined concept of "classicism", namely order, balance, clarity, economy, and emotional restraint...
music.
Secret Garden features the Irish violinist Fionnuala Sherry
Fionnuala Sherry
Fionnuala Sherry is an Irish violinist and vocalist. She makes up the female part of the New Instrumental duo Secret Garden, which won the Eurovision Song Contest 1995 with the predominantly instrumental piece "Nocturne".-Background:...
and the Norwegian composer/pianist Rolf Løvland
Rolf Løvland
Rolf Løvland is a Norwegian composer. Together with Fionnuala Sherry, he formed the celtic group Secret Garden, where he played as the composer/producer/keyboardist...
. The duo has sold over 3 million albums and won the Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...
for Norway's second time in 1995 with the composition "Nocturne". It was the first and only time to date that a predominantly instrumental piece has won the Eurovision Song Contest, although a few Norwegian
Norwegian language
Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
lyrics, written by screenwriter Petter Skavlan, were included to ensure that the entry adhered to the contest's rules. Norwegian singer Gunnhild Tvinnereim sang the song in the Eurovision Song Contest and Swedish nyckelharpist
Nyckelharpa
A nyckelharpa , sometimes called a keyed fiddle, is a traditional Swedish musical instrument. It is a string instrument or chordophone. Its keys are attached to tangents which, when a key is depressed, serve as frets to change the pitch of the string.The nyckelharpa is similar in appearance to a...
Åsa Jinder
Åsa Jinder
Åsa Jinder is a player of the nyckelharpa , and composer, producer, journalist, author and lecturer...
also guested on the occasion, although neither are regular members of the group. Ten years earlier Rolf Løvland also co-wrote the song "La det swinge
La det swinge
"La det swinge" is a song in Norwegian, sung by the pop duo Bobbysocks!. It was the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1985 - Norway's first victory in the contest.- Background :...
" (Let it swing) that secured Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
its first Eurovision Song Contest victory in 1985.
Their success at Eurovision spearheaded the success of their first album Songs from a Secret Garden. It sold a million copies around the world going platinum in Norway and Korea, gold in Ireland, Hong Kong and New Zealand and spending two years in the Billboard New Age
New Age music
New Age music is music of various styles intended to create artistic inspiration, relaxation, and optimism. It is used by listeners for yoga, massage, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management or to create a peaceful atmosphere in their home or other environments, and is often...
charts in 1996 and 1997. Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
adapted "Heartstrings" from this album as the song "I've Dreamed of You" on her A Love Like Ours
A Love Like Ours
A Love Like Ours is an album by Barbra Streisand. It was released in North American on September 21, 1999 and Europe on September 20, 1999. It is her 23rd Top 10 album in the US. This was Streisand's first commercial release since her marriage to actor James Brolin. Much of the material was...
album. She also used "Heartstrings" in her wedding to James Brolin
James Brolin
James Brolin is an American actor, producer and director, best known for his roles in soap operas, movies, sitcoms, and television. He is the father of actor Josh Brolin and husband of singer/actress Barbra Streisand.-Early life:...
.
The album White Stones followed in 1997 also making the top ten on Billboard New Age charts. Dawn of a New Century, again with lyrics by Petter Skavlan, in 1999, Dreamcatcher in 2001 and Once in a Red Moon also enjoyed success around the world including reaching top ten on the Billboard.
Their most famous song "You Raise Me Up
You Raise Me Up
"You Raise Me Up" was the debut single from Westlife's fifth studio album, Face To Face.This version is considered by many to be the most popular , of all the various versions of the same song. The single peaked at #1 on the UK Singles Chart, making it the band's 13th Number One. It was the first...
", performed by Brian Kennedy
Brian Kennedy (singer)
Brian Edward Patrick Kennedy is an Irish singer-songwriter and author, known for his ballads, and has represented Ireland at Eurovision 2006. He is the younger brother of musician Bap Kennedy.-Personal life:...
, has been recorded by more than a hundred other artists including Josh Groban
Josh Groban
Joshua Winslow "Josh" Groban is an American singer-songwriter, musician, actor, and record producer. His four solo albums have been certified at least multi-platinum, and in 2007, he was charted as the number-one best selling artist in the United States with over 21 million records in that country...
, Russell Watson
Russell Watson
Russell Watson is an English tenor who has released singles and albums of both operatic-style and pop songs. The self-styled "People's Tenor" had been singing since he was a child, and became known after performing at a working men's club...
, Westlife
Westlife
Westlife are an Irish boy band established on 3 July 1998. They are to disband in 2012. The group's line-up was Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Shane Filan, and Brian McFadden . The group are the only act in British and Irish history to have their first seven singles peak at number one...
, Sissel Kyrkjebø
Sissel Kyrkjebø
Sissel Kyrkjebø , also simply known as Sissel, is a Norwegian soprano.Sissel is considered one of the world's top crossover sopranos. Sissel's musical style runs the gamut from pop recordings and folk songs, to classical vocals and operatic arias...
, Becky Taylor
Becky Taylor
Becky Jane Taylor is an English singer notable for having landed a recording contract at a very young age.-Early Years:Taylor was born in Hammersmith, London. She had her first experience on the stage at the age of seven in London's West End, playing Little Eponine at the Palace Theatre...
, Celtic Woman
Celtic Woman
Celtic Woman is an all-female musical ensemble conceived and assembled by Sharon Browne and David Downes, a former musical director of the Irish stage show Riverdance...
, Lena Park
Lena Park
Lena Park, also known as Park Jung-hyun, , is a Korean-American R&B singer. Early in her life, Park showed talent for singing, mainly in the choir of her father's church in Downey with her siblings Brian and Uriah. She also learned to play saxophone and piano...
, Robert Tremlett and Il Divo
Il Divo
Il Divo is a multinational operatic pop vocal group created by music manager, executive, and reality TV star Simon Cowell. Formed in the United Kingdom, they are also signed to Cowell's record label, Syco Music...
.
Secret Garden has released a Dreamcatcher: Best Of album for its tour through Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
in 2004. It reached the top of the Australian New Age charts and the ARIA top 50 album charts.
In 2010 Fionnuala Sherry
Fionnuala Sherry
Fionnuala Sherry is an Irish violinist and vocalist. She makes up the female part of the New Instrumental duo Secret Garden, which won the Eurovision Song Contest 1995 with the predominantly instrumental piece "Nocturne".-Background:...
released her solo debut entitled Songs From Before
Songs from Before
Songs From Before is the solo debut from Fionnuala Sherry of the New Instrumental duo Secret Garden. The album was self released in Ireland in November 2010. and was released in June 2011 in North America by Hearts of Space Records, an independent record label owned by Valley Entertainment...
.
Discography
Secret Garden's albums (in chronological order):- Songs from a Secret GardenSongs from a Secret GardenSongs from a Secret Garden is the first international album by Secret Garden. It includes the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 1995, "Nocturne"....
(1996) - White StonesWhite StonesWhite Stones, released in 1997, is the second album by Secret Garden.-Track listing:...
(1997) - Dawn of a New CenturyDawn of a New CenturyDawn of a New Century is the third album by an Irish-Norwegian duo Secret Garden, released by Philips Records in 1999.- Track listing :...
(1999) - Dreamcatcher: Best of Secret Garden (2001)
- Once in a Red MoonOnce in a Red MoonOnce in a Red Moon, released in 2002, is the fifth album by Secret Garden.The first track, "Awakening", was inspired by the 1899 novel of the same name by Kate Chopin....
(2002) This includes a guest track with Julian Lloyd WebberJulian Lloyd WebberJulian Lloyd Webber is a British solo cellist who has been described as the "doyen of British cellists".-Early life:Julian Lloyd Webber is the second son of the composer William Lloyd Webber and his wife Jean Johnstone . He is the younger brother of the composer Andrew Lloyd Webber... - The Ultimate Secret Garden (2004, Asia)
- Dreamcatcher: Best of Secret Garden, special Australian tour edition (2004, Australia)
- EarthsongsEarthsongsEarthsongs, released in 2005, is the eighth album by Secret Garden."Always There" is another song written with lyrics by Brendan Graham and performed by Russell Watson, and also covered by Jan Werner Danielsen....
(2005) - Inside I'm SingingInside I'm SingingInside I'm Singing, released in 2007, is the ninth album by Secret Garden. Unlike previous albums, Inside I'm Singing is mostly composed of vocal music....
(2007) - Winter PoemWinter PoemWinter Poem is the 2011 and the 7th album by Secret Garden.Primarily an instrumental album, it features three songs with guest vocals: Moya Brennan of Clannad fame on "The Dream", Fionnuala Gill on "Mary’s Lament", and Tracey Campbell and Espen Grjotheim on "Powered By Nature".The lyrics to "Mary’s...
(Release 11 Nov 2011)