ELEANOR McEvoy may not be a major name in this country, but back home in her native Ireland she is a major star.

Her song inspired the title of and appeared on the 1992 anthology A Woman's Heart, which has since become the best-selling album in Irish music history, eclipsing records by heavyweight artists like U2 and Van Morrison.

Eleanor seems to have been destined for a career in music. At the tender age of four she performed in an Irish music competition as the lead singer in her sister's band. At eight, she took up the violin and continued to study it, along with the piano, throughout her childhood.

After leaving school she attended the prestigious Trinity College in Dublin, studying music by day and working in pit orchestras by night.

For five years she worked with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland before abandoning the classical world to concentrate on her first love - songwriting.

Last month, she released a new single, I'll Be Willing, taken from her current album, Early Hours.

* Talking Heads, Southampton, Sunday. Performance: 7.30pm. Tickets: from £5. Box office: 023 8067 8446.