Chloë Agnew (born 9 June 1989) is an Irish singer, best known for being an original and former member of the

Celtic music Celtic music is a broad grouping of music genres that evolved out of the folk music traditions of the Celts (modern), Celtic people of Northwestern Europe (the modern Celtic nations). It refers to both orally-transmitted traditional music and ...

group

Celtic Woman Celtic Woman is an all-female Irish musical ensemble, formed in 2004 for a one-time event held in Dublin, Ireland. They started touring internationally as a group after multiple airings on PBS helped to boost the group's popularity. Celtic W ...

Early life and career

Agnew was born to Irish entertainer Adele "Twink" King and Irish

oboist An oboist (formerly hautboist) is a musician who plays the oboe or any oboe family instrument, including the oboe d'amore, cor anglais or English horn, bass oboe and piccolo oboe or oboe musette. The following is a list of notable past and pres ...

David Agnew in

Knocklyon Knocklyon () is a suburb of the city of Dublin, located in South Dublin, Ireland. Unlike many Dublin suburbs, Knocklyon was not developed around a village; rather it largely consists of modern housing, with a number of old cottages and farmhous ...

County Dublin County Dublin ( or ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and holds its capital city, Dublin. It is located on the island's east coast, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Until 1994, County Dubli ...

, where she lived with her mother and younger sister, Naomi. She made her first television appearance on her mother's programme aged four weeks old, and later sang on the show at the age of six. She attended Notre Dame des Missions Junior School for her primary school education, followed by

Alexandra College Alexandra College () is an independent day and boarding school for girls in Milltown, Dublin, Ireland. The school operates under a Church of Ireland ethos. History The school was founded in 1866 and takes its name from Princess Alexandra of ...

girls' school. In 1998, Agnew represented Ireland and was the winner of the Grand Prix at the First International Children's Song Competition in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

with a song called ''The Friendship Tree''. She then began to perform

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment, generally combining gender-crossing actors and topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or ...

at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin and continued in that role for four years. In 1999, she appeared in ''

The Young Messiah ''The Young Messiah'' is a 2016 biblical drama film directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh and co-written by Betsy and Cyrus Nowrasteh, based on the novel '' Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt'' by Anne Rice. The film stars Adam Greaves-Neal, Sean Bean, David B ...

'', a modern adaptation of

Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel ( ; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concerti. Born in Halle, Germany, H ...

's ''

Messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...

''. In this production, she played one of the children and performed sign language.

Musical career

Agnew has sung in English, Irish,

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, Italian, and German and has a soprano vocal range. In 2000, aged 11, Agnew approached director David Downes about recording a song to raise money for the children of Afghanistan. With his help, she recorded ''Angel of Mercy'' for the album ''This Holy Christmas Night'', which raised over £20,000 for the Afghan Children's Charity Fund in 2001. That same year, she joined the Christ Church Cathedral Girls' Choir, and remained a member for three years. In 2002, she was signed to Celtic Collections, and with the backing of Downes she recorded her debut album '' Chloë''. In 2004, she released her second album, ''Chloë: Walking in the Air''. She also recorded a companion DVD for her second album, released in Europe in 2004 and in North America in 2007. She appeared as part of the group

at The Helix in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

in 2004, the youngest member at the time. Agnew has been featured on 14 albums with the group, recording songs in multiple languages and taking part in several world tours. In 2009, Agnew was invited by Italian tenor Alessandro Rinella to sing with him on his debut album. In 2012, Agnew was named Female Vocalist of the Year at the Irish Music Awards. On 5 August 2013, Celtic Woman announced Agnew would be taking a break from Celtic Woman to focus on solo projects. Her position was filled by

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...

-born singer

Mairéad Carlin Mairéad Carlin is an Irish singer. She is a current member of the ensemble Celtic Woman and was the first-ever member of the group that was born in Northern Ireland. Early life Carlin was born in Derry. "Derry, my hometown, is a very cultured an ...

. After leaving Celtic Woman, Agnew was chosen to be the special guest of the

Celtic Thunder Celtic Thunder is an Irish singing group and stage show known for its eclectic, theatrical style show. The group is backed by the Celtic Thunder Band on their concert tours, and their live shows are known for the use of dramatic set pieces ( ...

cruise. She, along with former Celtic Thunder member Paul Byrom, was also a special guest of Lisa Kelly's concerts called ''The Voice of Ireland'' and ''A Celtic Christmas.'' Agnew was also part of Ethan Bortnick's concert with another former Celtic Thunder member

Damian McGinty Damian Joseph McGinty (born 9 September 1992) is an Irish singer and actor. McGinty has been performing for over a decade, and was a member of the group Celtic Thunder for thirteen years, starting when he was fourteen. On 21 August 2011, McGint ...

. Agnew did a concert performance with her boyfriend Dermot Kiernan and American singer-songwriters Kate Steinway and Marissa Lauren in the LA Songwriting school on 2015. On 22 January 2020, it was announced that Agnew was returning to Celtic Woman for the US Celebration Tour to fill in for

Éabha McMahon Éabha McMahon (pronounced ''AY-va'') is an Irish singer and a former member of the ensemble Celtic Woman. In 2020 she began recording music under the name AVA. Early life Éabha was born in Dublin, Ireland on 9 December 1990. She is a fluent Ir ...

, who was taking a leave from the group. However the tour was postponed shortly after due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. On 21 April 2020, Agnew announced that she would be rejoining the group for the rescheduled Celebration Tour. Agnew then announced that she would participate in the Postcards from Ireland Tour as well as the Postcards from Ireland album and TV special/DVD. On 19 August 2022, Agnew announced that she would be taking a break from group once again to focus on solo projects. During an interview by

Beliefnet Beliefnet is a Christian lifestyle website featuring editorial content related to the topics of inspiration, spirituality, health, wellness, love and family, news, and entertainment. History Launched in 1999 by Steven Waldman and Robert Nylen, ...

, Agnew commented on

Irish music Irish music is music that has been created in various genres on the island of Ireland. The indigenous music of the island is termed Irish traditional music (or Irish folk music). It has remained vibrant through the 20th and into the 21st ...

: Agnew is a member of the Roman Catholic Church. She often says prayers just before going on stage to "Calm her nerves".

Discography

; Solo ; With Celtic Woman

References

External links

* *
Profile at Celticwoman.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Agnew, Chloe 1989 births 20th-century Irish women singers 21st-century Irish women singers Living people Celtic Woman members Irish-language singers Irish women singers Musicians from Dublin (city) Performers of Christian music German-language singers of Ireland Latin-language singers of Ireland Italian-language singers of Ireland Irish child singers Irish sopranos People educated at Alexandra College