“McEvoy sounds like the sort of woman who might greet you with a bottle of red one night and a rolling pin the next.”
Truck & Driver Magazine
Eleanor McEvoy was born on Dublin’s northside. After college, she pursued a career as a session musician in Dublin, collaborating with a multitude of artists and groups including U2, Sinead O’Connor, Midge Ure and Mary Black.
She got her first big break in 1992 as the composer, producer and co-performer (with Mary Black) of A Woman's Heart, the title track for the best-selling Irish album in Irish history. The song continuously makes appearances on screen, most recently in 2019 in the award-winning TV show Derry Girls.
Her song Sophie was described by David Smith in The Guardian as “an anthem that is touching, inspiring and consoling thousands of anorexic girls around the world”. It is used internationally in treatment centres to treat patients with eating disorders.
Her sixteenth album Gimme Some Wine received enthusiastic acclaim on its release, featuring co-writes with legendary Irish songwriter Paul Brady and UK-based Dave Rotheray of The Beautiful South.
In November 2023 she delighted fans with a Christmas remix of her single South Anne Street. The song captures the essence of a chance encounter with a former flame on a Tuesday afternoon before Christmas. Awkward conversations transform into warm moments at McDaid’s pub on Harry Street - a stone’s throw from the iconic corner of South Anne Street and Grafton Street in Dublin. Steeped in the ambience of ‘the corner of South Anne and Grafton Street’ the Christmas Mix by Ciaran Byrne brought out the yuletide atmosphere of the lyrics and is the only single in the world to feature the bell of the Luas, sound that is unique to Dublin city! South Anne Street has become a corner stone of the live set. Striking a perfect balance between the profoundly personal and the universally relatable, it has resonated with audiences both within Ireland and abroad.
BBC Radio 2 (Alex Lester) “One of the few artists who can do no wrong whatsoever.”