Sibling Revelry

THE CORRS BRING IRISH POP TO THE NEW WORLD

Behind the glossy beauty of the Corr girls lie the glossy, infectious melodies of the Corrs' songs-the work of four ambitious musicians who have sold 17 million albums of what might, for lack of a better term, be called Celtic glamour pop.

"We never really fit in," says Andrea Corr, 26, lead singer of the Irish family quartet. "Before we hit, they didn't know where to put us; was it the Irishfolk section?" The music of the Corrs—Jim, 32; Sharon, 30; Caroline, 27; and Andrea—is often compared to the gooey, big-time pop of Abba. Or Fleetwood Mac minus the edgy Stevie Nicks vocals and the old drama: they don't sleep with each other, they don't hate each other, they don't travel in separate limousines. Growing up in the small town of Dundalk, Ireland, with parents who performed Carpenters and Abba covers on weekends, the kids formed their own band to audition for the hit 1991 film The Commitments (they all got bit parts). They still play their own instruments (guitar, fiddle, drums, and tin whistle), and concert highlights often include jaunty, spontaneous Irish jigs.

These huge international stars just saw their new single ("Breathless") enter the U.K. charts at No. 1; only America, so far, has resisted their charms. Says Andrea, "If people are screaming for you all over the rest of the world, you tend to think, Well, why am I going to Dallas?"

That should change with this month's U.S. release of their third album, In Blue. Willing to do whatever it takes—including performing outdoors for TV in subfreezing weather at dawn with all three sisters in skimpy halter tops—the Corrs are coming back, determined to "break the States." "There's more to us than meets the eye," says Andrea. "America just hasn't seen it yet."

LISA ROBINSON