Last year, Cork pop singer Lyra experienced a brand new emotion: overwhelming heartbreak. “It was the first time I sat down and wrote a ballad. I suddenly understood how Adele could do it.”

They married on Sunday in front of 200 guests.

I tried my best last year. I really did. To watch Love Island, that is. Four episodes in, I felt entirely revulsed by what I saw as its vapidity and celebration of ignorance, and gave up.

A major label deal could push Lyra to the next level, writes Ed Power.

IT’S not often you see Snapchat and sexual health education in the same sentence. But that didn’t stop social media influencer and entrepreneur James Kavanagh.

Altan are on the road 30 years, and fiddler Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh is as happy as ever to play their music, even if she’s starting to pass the baton to her daughter, writes Marjorie Brennan.

Like all the best Irish antiquarian sites, there’s very little brouhaha about it on the road, writes Colm O’Regan.

It was Mother Teresa who wrote: “If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.”

To this day the singer is still Ireland’s biggest selling solo artist, with 80 million albums sold worldwide.

They may rail against the Donegal jokes, but Little Hours are proud to be spoken of as their home county’s next big thing in the music world, writes Ed Power.

After years spent blazing trails with their own projects, the Casey sisters from West Cork finally got around to playing together, writes Marjorie Brennan.

Enya, Ireland’s biggest- selling solo artist, brought a touch of Christmas spirit to Cork yesterday ahead of her first appearance on Irish TV in a decade.

His niece, Moya Brennan, took to Twitter to share the sad news of her uncle's death.

Love wins.

Leo Brennan, the father of international entertainers Enya and Clannad, died at his home in Gweedore, Co Donegal, yesterday.

Cork Midsummer Festival runs this weekend and next. Here are some of the early highlights:

Enya has not had a number one single in the UK in more than two decades, but that has not stopped the Irish star from landing a spot in The Sunday Times Rich List of music millionaires.

Accumulated profits at Enya’s music business firm nearly topped €1m last year, new figures show.

Irish stars U2, Enya and Niall Horan feature prominently in new lists of millionaire musicians.

With Nicki Minaj playing at the 3Arena tonight, Ed Power selects the ten most important women in recent rap history

Accumulated profits at Enya’s music business firm topped €1m last year, new figures show.

The axe swung. Experience counted for nought.

Moya Brennan and her family group are on the road again for their first Irish tour since 1993, writes Ed Power

Si Kahn says his music career began as a hobby. He is also a union activist.

The rich just got richer, according to the latest Sunday Times Rich List, which indicates that the total wealth of the country’s richest 250 people increased by just under €3bn last year.

The cash pile at Enya’s music business firm last year jumped by over €220,000, even though the best-selling artist hasn’t released a new album in over four years.

Our favourite bit is the bit where everybody who sees this goes "Holy crap, did he just do that?"

Highlights of next week’s festival

DEALING with infertility can be an isolating, lonely experience with only medical professionals to turn to for help. But author Maria Duffy, 44, decided to reach out by giving others the gift of life.

ELENA Tonra is surprisingly skittish and unsure of herself.

An energy company planning to test drill for oil about six miles from some of Ireland’s most sought after real estate has been forced to postpone explorations.

Listening to Mozart improves the outlook for mice undergoing heart transplants, a study has found.

MARIA worked for the Bank of Ireland for 15 years.

IT was an idea of the late Charles Haughey, but came into its own during the Celtic Tiger boom with Hollywood stars and Spice Girls relocating to Ireland to avail off it, but among Brian Cowen’s final acts will be the practical ending of the artists’ tax exemption scheme.

ONCE again U2, the world’s highest-earning act, top the Irish music rich list, with Westlife joining the top five for the first time.

THE rousing cover picture of Michael Collins, fists clenched and in full flight, sets the tone of Great Irish Heroes, a lively collection of stories of men and women whose names have reverberated through the pages of history.

EVER dreamt of living in Marble Halls? A lot of hard work, and the right motivation, might turn this unlikely looking option into a bit of a dream in its own right.

Hollywood star Denzel Washington has emerged as the surprise favourite to be Ryan Tubridy's first guest as he begins his tenure as 'Late Late Show' host.

Britney Spears is continuing her reign atop the global pop charts - her song 'Womanizer' is number one in Europe.