The first family of Irish music are poignantly kicking off their UK tour on Tyneside next month. Wil Marlow meets up with The Corrs as they prepare for the road.
 Andrea Corr rushes into the hotel room, all apologies for being a little late, despite being the first to arrive. She explains she'd been back to her London home for lunch before coming here and was almost drawn into an afternoon film on BBC2. She likes her sword-and-sandals epics. She is on her own because when the other Corrs - Sharon, Jim and the very pregnant Caroline - come to London, they don't stay at Andrea's flat. "We see each other enough as it is," says the 30-year-old, through gritted teeth. While she's mocking with her gritted teeth, the need for The Corrs to take time out from each other is real. After growing up together in Dundalk, County Louth, they immediately started working together when Jim and Sharon - after gigging as a duo - got Caroline and Andrea on board to audition for Alan Parker's 1991 film The Commitments. Since then they haven't stopped. The band's four studio albums and a Best Of have sold 30 million copies. This year's album Borrowed Heaven, continues to add to that total, and the band's success sees them travelling the globe together. But living in each other's pockets while working so hard took its toll on the siblings' frayed nerves and they would often take it out on each other. "It was difficult," says Andrea, as her sister Sharon arrives. "When you first start there's a lot of pressure on you anyway, just as normal people. "But when you have all the family stuck together constantly and on a constant feeling of jetlag you all become highly strung. "And as brother and sisters we let rip a bit more than you do with other people, which is wrong really." "We were champion fighters," agrees Sharon, 34. Things are different these days. A few things have happened in the Corrs' lives that have made them much more respectful to each other. The first was their mother Jean's death in 1999 from a rare lung disease. Jean, 57, died in Newcastle's Freeman Hospital. At least two of the songs on their current album are about their mother. Sharon says: "I don't know if you'll be hearing songs about her on every album, but it certainly is the biggest emotional event of our lives. "She is and will always be a constant influence. We all believe that." In January 2001 the band had a concert in Newcastle that raised £100,000-plus for research at the Freeman. Later that year they decided to have a break. During the break Sharon and Caroline married - Sharon to barrister Gavin Bonner and Caroline to property tycoon Frank Woods - and Caroline had her first child Jake, now one. Andrea furthered her acting career with a role in the film The Boys From County Clare and met her actor boyfriend Shaun Evans. Jim, 40, who finally arrives, became a fully-licensed helicopter pilot. "The break certainly did us good," says Jim. "I think we needed to take time out. "We needed to get our own lives back and catch up with domestic stuff." When they kick off their UK tour at the Metro Radio Arena next month, they will be one down. Caroline's second child is due soon, so the band has had to get in a replacement drummer. Andrea says: "She can't wait to have the baby now. She looks fantastic and she's good and healthy, though she feels very big. "It has been strange without her," adds Jim. "She contributes so much to the whole thing, so we had to work at making it work without her. "We certainly had to put in the extra effort. "But we were lucky in finding the drummer we did - Jason Duffy - who's the brother of the bass player. It's one thing having a rhythm section that is tight and gel together, but two brothers who have played together most of their lives adds something special." Another thing that will be missing from the forthcoming tour is any on-stage tension from off-stage rows. Older, wiser and much more chilled out, the days of rows aplenty between the Corrs are no longer. "Now we just get on with it," says Andrea. "Things have happened that made it all seem a bit ridiculous. "And whenever we get a great vibe off the music or have a great gig, like all families do, we just forget that we've argued." * The Corrs play Newcastle's Metro Radio Arena on November 1. For tickets, ring (0870) 707-8000, visit the Arena box office or see www.metroradioarena.co.uk. | 
