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Where once the topic of bar-room conversation depended on which Spice Girl you’d like to date, now any self-respecting bloke who knows his pin-ups will be voicing his opinion on the relative merits of Andrea, Caroline and Sharon – no doubt soon to be known simply as Single Corr, Mental Corr and Rock Chick Corr.
The line-up is completed by elder brother Jim (Apple Corr – he loves computers) who, at 6ft tall and with the kind of sparkling eyes and trademark Irish lilt which would win him heart throb of the year in Ballykissangel, is more than a token offering for the band’s female audience.
In case you’ve been asleep for most of the year it’s worth pointing out that 1998 has been what they call ‘the big one’ for The Corrs. Their latest album, Talk On Corners featuring the hits What Can I Do (to make you love me) and So Young has been in the charts forever and is rapidly approaching two million UK sales, while their songs are played on the radio so often you’d think they owned their own station. And with a sell-out two-month Arena tour kicking off in Nottingham this Thursday, the band look set to have an equally successful start to the New Year.
While their music is undeniably catchy, the girls’ looks have been grabbing most of the headlines, with Andrea’s name being whispered by a host of lusty celebs who should know better. Sir Cliff Richard seems to profess his love for her almost as often as he sings about Christmas, while Chris Evans manfully took the chance to give her a peck on the cheek when he invited the band on his Channel Four show TFI Friday last month.
“I’m flattered by the attention, but when I’m described as pop’s sexiest woman, I hope it’s not just because people want to sleep with me,” sighs Andrea, who at 24 is the youngest member of the band, the most obviously beautiful and therefore the first one to be spotted by the lads’ mags.
“Besides, attractiveness to me has more to do with heart and soul, not body. I’m not exactly a Baywatch babe.”
While it’s doubtful the non-Baywatch status is to blame, Andrea also happens to be the only unattached Corr and admits it’s a long time since she has had a proper relationship. She is keen to stress, however, that she has nothing against men – although you won’t catch her hopping into bed with any groupies. When this lady falls in love, it’s the big one or nothing. “I couldn’t even kiss a man I wasn’t completely attracted to,” she says.
Although it’s hard to believe, Andrea and her sisters say they haven’t really noticed a sudden upsurge in male interest. Everyone may be talking about them, they say, but hardly anyone is talking to them. “Because of the business we’re in, I think men become a little intimidated,” says Caroline, who plays drums, is often compared to crazy Animal for the Muppets and certainly seems to be the most mischievous Corr.
“I think men are naturally shy anyway. We have had a few strange letters from male fans who start off telling us how much they like the music and then move on to different things they fancy – nothing too perverted. We haven’t had any marriage proposals yet but it’s early days.”
Even if hands were offered Caroline, 25, would turn them down. She’s been seeing Frank, a property developer for two years and is perfectly happy with the fact that he’s willing to fly half way across the world to see her. “You have to make an effort sometimes, don’t you?” she says.
Violin-playing eldest sister Sharon, 28, is also involved with a guy she met on the Corrs’ first video shoot three years ago. She’s determined he shall remain nameless and, when she speaks, her husky voice has a slightly foreboding tone and you can’t get Bonnie Tyler out of your head. Sharon is the guy most likely to rock out. It’s left to Jim Corr to explain how lusting men make their intentions known to his sisters – they use him.
“Guys are always telling me how beautiful the girls are, but half the time they are just too scared to talk to them,” he laughs. “So I am the one who ends up meeting all the interesting new people and being invited to showbiz parties. That suits me fine.”
At 34, Jim is big brother Corr. He denies being the boss – although he does take an interest in the business side and can tell you a Corrs chart position and sales figure anywhere in the world. When it comes to his sisters, he says he gave up telling them what to do years ago when they realised he had no right to.
“They’re all pretty head strong and although we do have the usual sibling disputes and inter-band fights all decisions are made as a group,” he says. “It makes me laugh when people ask me if I’m all protective. They can look after themselves and half the time they are the ones looking out for me. If I tried to persuade one of them to go on a date with some guy, they’d just laugh. I’m used to having no time in the bathroom – if you know what I mean.”
He rarely parties with his siblings and is often excluded from their boozy lunches “but only because he prefers to do his own thing,” says Caroline.
Despite coming from the same stock, Jim is keen to play down his own good looks and recoils at the mention of the word “sexy”. He’s more than happy to linger in the background while his sisters pose for the cameras. “The girls are the sexy ones, not me. I’m just guilty by association,” he laughs. “But it’s hard for me to consider them as sex symbols. To me they’re just my sisters. Anyway, it wouldn’t really make sense to put my picture on the records. I’m not stupid; I know what’s eye-catching.”
That kind of marketing has obviously drawn criticism from certain quarters. People accuse the band of being nothing more than a collection of designer labels, a few pretty faces and some OK tunes. Prepare for Corr wrath. “They say we’re too nice and not serious about our music, but if we were scruffy and not so pretty, people would expect something different from us and, who knows, we might even be different,” says Caroline. “But this is who we are and you can only be yourself.”
Sharon is equally upfront about a promotional campaign that has been compared to that of the Spice Girls; big money deals with Pepsi and Lloyds Bank. “As far as image is concerned we have never denied the fact that looks are definitely helpful,” she says. “Because we live in a visual world, you are constantly seeing groups before you hear them. It’s important but without the music you wouldn’t be looking at us, if you know what I mean.”
The backbiting upsets them because The Corrs have worked hard to get where they are. Theirs may seem like an overnight success but the roots of the band were formed almost 20 years ago when Jim started playing at his parent’s weekend gigs in Dundalk, County Louth. It seems their electrician father Gerry and housewife mother Jean were quite a turn on the Dundalk circuit and encouraged all their children into music.
“Mum and Dad taught us, but they never pressured us like we were the next Jackson 5 or anything like that,” says Andrea, who is still based at their parent’s Dundalk home while her siblings have separate homes in Dublin. The family were brought up Roman Catholics and although their parents were strict on matters like homework and late nights, the Corr children have no complaints about their childhood.
Things really started moving musically for The Corrs when Alan Parker was making his hit film The Commitments in Dublin in 1990. They auditioned as a band and ended up with bit parts, and were spotted by a manager who signed them up. They didn’t release their first album Forgiven, Not Forgotten until 1995 and although it sold over two million worldwide, Britain was slow to catch on to their blend of traditional Irish folk and modern pop.
“Everyone was into Britpop so there was no real slot for our music at the time,” says Andrea, who appeared in Alan Parker’s Evita alongside Madonna while the band were preparing to release the follow-up album Talk On Corners – the one which is now doing so well.
“We haven’t really had time to take it all in, we’re too busy working,” says Jim. “But hopefully we’ll have a few days off soon to enjoy the success a bit.”
With the tour is about to start it doesn’t look like that will be for
awhile, but Jim is keen to out paid one rumour before he sets off. “Someone
linked me to Natalie Imbruglia the other week, but I have to say there’s
no truth in it whatsoever,” he says. “But if you do see her can you tell
her I think she’s lovely?” You just did Jim. Now, about that date with
your little sister…