McEvoy's life as a musician began at the age of four when she started playing piano. At the age of eight she took up violin. Upon finishing school she attended Trinity College, Dublin where she studied music by day and worked in pit orchestras and music clubs by night.
McEvoy graduated from Trinity with an Honors Degree in music and spent four months busking in New York. In 1988 she was accepted into the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra where she spent four years before leaving to concentrate on songwriting.
She built up a following in clubs in Dublin with her three piece band, Jim Tate on bass, Noel Eccles on drums, and latterly Bill Shanley on guitar.
During a solo date in July 1992, she performed a little known self-penned song, Only a Woman's Heart. Mary Black, of whose band McEvoy was a member, was in the audience and invited her to add the track to an album of Irish female artists. The album was subsequently titled A Woman's Heart and the track was released as the lead single.
In the same week that A Woman's Heart was released, Tom Zutaut A & R from Geffen Records, who had previously signed Guns & Roses, Motley Crew, and Edie Brickell, offered McEvoy a worldwide recording deal after watching her perform at The Baggot Inn in Dublin.
A Woman's Heart the album, went on to sell over three quarter of a million copies in Ireland alone and was (and remains) the biggest selling Irish album of all time.
Eleanor McEvoy, the self-titled début offering, recorded in Windmill Lane Studios, was released in February 1993 and tours in the US, Asia, and Europe followed. Back on Irish soil, McEvoy was awarded Best New Artist, Best New Performer, and Best Songwriter Awards by the Irish entertainment and music industries.
As she began writing her second album, Tom Zutaut, departed Geffen Records, so when Columbia US offered her a new deal, she jumped ship and began working on a new, edgier second album, which would eventually be titled What's Following Me? The album was released in 1996 and the sound was louder and grungier that her debut. The single Precious Little built to a Top 10 radio hit in the US, giving McEvoy the exposure she needed for a headline tour of the US. She was invited to contribute of a number of movie and TV soundtracks.
A Glass Unkissed was featured in ABC Television's Clueless and Whisper A Prayer to the Moon was featured in the Pierce Brosnan film The Nephew. which was released in August 1998.
At home, the success of A Woman's Heart continued to overshadow McEvoy's solo work and fans of the mammoth hit were disappointed with the rock elements of the second album and those that might have identified with her bittersweet lyrics, sensual vocals, and loud guitars turned a blind eye to the album.
McEvoy released her third album Snapshots in 1999. Her primary goal was to make Snapshots her most song-oriented album to date. Toward that goal, McEvoy hooked up with legendary producer Rupert Hine (who worked with Stevie Nicks, Tina Turner, Suzanne Vega, and Duncan Sheik) and recorded the album at Rupert’s chateau “Chateau de la Tour de Moulin” and then in Metropolis Studios in London. The extensive use of drum loops was a complete change in style from her previous work.
The album was greeted by rave reviews on both sides of the Atlantic...”her sophisticated voice and compassionate seasoned lyrics ... make Eleanor McEvoy’s album a gem.....” declared The Boston Globe while The Sunday Times described it is “her strongest album to date, with well appointed social comment topics.....McEvoy’s take on matters emotional also hits pay dirt with the likes of the excellent Did You Tell Him? However Columbia Records had been unprepared for the complete stylistic change and relations between the company and McEvoy became strained. Despite this, a sell-out 24 date tour of the USA accompanied the release of Snapshots in the summer of 1999, followed by the Snapshots Unplugged tour March-April 2000, which culminated in a performance in Boulder, Colorado accompanied by the E Town Band where she duetted with Richard Thompson.
By 2000 McEvoy found herself increasingly entwined in record company red tape, Columbia had bought her first album Eleanor McEvoy from Geffen, but were refusing to release it. Neither What's Following Me? nor Snapshots had set the sales charts on fire and McEvoy’s public perception, particularly in Ireland, was caught in a limbo state between rock and folk, with A Woman’s Heart and its many incarnations still lurking in the back of the minds of the record buying public.
Increasingly McEvoy started to work on outside projects. The Bert Jansch tribute album People On The Highway - A Bert Jansch Encomium (Market Square Records Cat. No. MSMCD106 Koch September 2000) saw a newly recorded version of Jansch’s song about Sandy Denny Where Did My Life Go? recorded by McEvoy especially for the album. Participating artists included Al Stewart, Roy Harper, Bernard Butler, Donovan, and Ralph McTell.
As the century closed, McEvoy had had enough of major label involvement and made the decision to take the fourth album and head down the independent road. Yola was a turning point in McEvoy’s musical direction. Released in 2001 it reflected the acoustic, jazz influenced style she had developed on stage with Brian Connor. For McEvoy it was a new departure and one that found favour with music media. Irish Music Press described it as .... 'her finest album', ‘a brave rejection of the predictable’, ‘musically daring....beautifully atmospheric’ and international press lauded it as ‘a back to basics triumph’, ‘beautifully restrained’...a classic’, ‘McEvoy’s best release to date’ Extensive touring throughout the USA and the UK followed. In 2002 Yola was named "Record of the Year" by Hi-Fi+ Magazine
March 2004 saw the release of Early Hours (Market Square, No. MSM51SACD128, Distributor RSK/BMG), produced by McEvoy and Brian Connor. The album featured McEvoy on vocals, Guitar, and Fiddle, Brian Connor on Piano, Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer, Hammond Organ, Keyboards, Liam Bradley, Kit Percussion, Backing Vocals, Calum McColl Guitars, Backing Vocals, Nicky Scott, Bass, and Lindley Hamilton, on Trumpets. The style differed from her previous work, taking on a jazz/blues feel for many of the songs. Early Hours continued the high quality audio work that had been established with Yola. This album was the first to use TiMax (unique audio imaging) technology, mixed in 5.1 surround sound onto multi-channel super audio compact disc Super Audio Compact Disc (SACD). Early Hours was voted Best Contemporary Album 2004-2005, by Irish Music Magazine Readers Poll.
She continued to tour with Brian Connor until April 2005. She then began performing solo accompanying herself on bass guitar, electric guitar, mandolin and violin.
Her sixth album Out There was recorded in The Grange Studio in Norfolk and released in early 2007. It was self penned, self produced and featured McEvoy all of the instruments with the exception of a guitar part on “Quote I Love You Unquote” played by Dave Rotheray (ex- Beautiful South) and the drumming of Liam Bradley (Van Morrison, Ronan Keeting) on three tracks. McEvoy toured the album extensively in Britain, Ireland, Spain and Australia throughout 2007 and early 2008. In 2007 Out There brought McEvoy her second "Record of the Year" award from Hi-Fi Magazine.
Love Must Be Tough, (MOSCD404 released 2008) her seventh album, is a departure from previous albums, where all the songs were typically her own. Half of this album features songs by other writers. Typically these songs were written by men and sung by men, but were about women. When sung by a woman, with the minimum of alteration to the lyrics, the words tell a new story. It revels in gender juxtaposition.
Recorded with the South King Street Band, with arrangements by Peter Beckett, Love Must Be Tough opens with the Rolling Stone’s Mother’s Little Helper. Opening the album with the line “What A Drag It Is Getting Old” sets the tone of the entire collection.
The title track, Love Must Be Tough, written by McEvoy and US legend Johnny Rivers during a late night song writing session in Killarney, is a nugget of West Coast Americana. The lead single Old, New, Borrowed and Blue, penned by McEvoy and long time friend Dave Rotheray (Beautiful South/Homespun) is a twist on the jaundiced over optimism of the standard wedding song. Another track by the duo, The Night May Still Be Young, But I Am Not, is also on the album. In 2008 McEvoy received her third "Record of the Year" award from Hi-Fi Magazine
In 2007 McEvoy was awarded "Best Traditional Act" at the 7th annual Big Buzz Awards. Awards are voted for entirely by the general public, and are designed to recognise the outstanding achievements and the amazing talent within the Irish entertainment scene.
In 2008 McEvoy toured from January - November in the UK, Australia, Spain, Germany, Poland, and Ireland with additional one off dates in the Far East and elsewhere in Europe, including an appearance at Glastonbury in June 2008.
On November 21, 2008 Easy In Love from the album Love Must Be Tough was released as a single to highlight McEvoy’s recent visit to Uganda on behalf of Oxfam Ireland.
On September 28, 2008 McEvoy's 8th album Singled Out was released. The album is a compilation of singles taken from McEvoy's four award winning independently-released albums. Three of the albums, Yola, Out There, and Love Must Be Tough, received the coveted Album of the Year Award from Hi-Fi Magazine.[5] Early Hours was voted Best Contemporary Album 2004-2005 by Irish Music Magazine Readers Poll.[6] The album includes Did I Hurt You and Isn't It A Little Late from McEvoy's double A-Side single which was the world's first single to be released on the on Super Audio Compact Disc SACD format. Singled Out includes one new song, Oh Uganda, which was written by McEvoy after her visit to Northern Uganda as part of her support for the work of Oxfam Unwrapped.
