Irish singer Chloë Agnew has spoken about the ‘terrifying’ step she took in her career when she left her bandmates in Celtic Woman to pursue a solo career.
The Dublin star joined the all-female vocal group when she was aged just 14 and spent almost a decade with them.
Celtic Woman toured the world and enjoyed huge success, spending a huge 81 weeks on top of the US Billboard world music charts.
However, in 2013, Agnew decided she needed a fresh challenge. She left the group and moved to Los Angeles to focus on a solo career.
Looking back on her decision, she said: “It was one of the most liberating and terrifying experiences of my entire life.
“I knew I wanted to try different things, but I had no idea what the world would be like.
“I had been in a Celtic Woman bubble, essentially, for a long time, and I started so young in the show, it was kind of all I really knew for almost 10 years.
“So, when I stepped out it was a scary time.”
Agnew had grown up in a showbiz environment. Her father David is a professional oboist and her mother is the television presenter Adele ‘Twink’ King.
She made her television singing debut aged just six and had recorded her first song by the time she was 11.
Three years later she joined Celtic Woman and spent nearly a decade with the group.
Agnew said: “Both of my parents were in the entertainment industry, so I grew up singing, dancing and acting.”
Although Agnew has plenty of experience of the pressures of showbusiness, she still admits it was a daunting prospect to leave the safety of the group and go out on her own.
She said: “You look at the scale of a show like Celtic Woman, and you’re a cog in this big machine but when you go out on your own, you are your own everything. It was a whole different world, but it was the making of me.”
The singer has now reunited with Celtic Woman for a US tour to celebrate the band’s 15th anniversary.
With the numerous global issues faced by the world’s governing bodies and public alike, Agnew said she is happy to be able to provide some light relief from all the pressures.
She said: “I think in the madness of the world we live in nowadays, it’s great to give people an opportunity to escape all of that.”
Here is a video of Agnew performing the classic Irish folk tune The Wild Rover with fellow Celtic Woman bandmember Lisa Kelly.
You can find out more about Chloë Agnew and her career by visiting irishmusicdaily.com.
