Music producer Nicky Ryan, who, with his wife Roma, created the ­ethereal and ­haunting “wall of sound” that turned Donegal-born singer Enya into an international star, selling more than 80 million albums, died on Wednesday, September 10, aged 79. He had attended hospital for tests, but there were sudden complications and he died “peacefully”. 

Tributes flooded in for the icon including one from the President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins who issued a statement expressing his remorse. “May I join with all those who have expressed their sadness on learning of the death of Nicky Ryan… (His) contribution to Enya’s music was immense. Together with the lyrical skill of his partner, Roma Ryan, Nicky’s production played a major role in Enya’s enormous global success, underpinning her work with a distinctive sound which has made so much of Enya’s work unique. May I express my deepest condolences to Roma, to their daughters Persia and Ebony, to Enya and to all those with whom Nicky collaborated, and to his many friends and colleagues,” penned.

Others took to X to express their sorrow at the news. “I’m still so gutted over Nicky Ryan’s death. Him and Enya made magic together, some of the greatest of all time,” one said.

“Very sad news concerning the death of Nicky Ryan. He was Enya’s mentor and the architect of her production and sound. Deepest condolences to his wife (Roma), family and to @official_enya,” another added.

A third fan shared: “It was deeply saddening news to hear of Nicky’s passing, though I’ve known of Nicky’s work and the Enya trio for just a few years, as an Enya fan of this century.”

Niall Stokes, the editor of music magazine Hot Press said: “This is a completely shocking loss of one of Ireland’s all-time greats. I loved Nicky and the great maverick strain that he had in his approach to life and to music.”

Nicky had been working with Enya‘s siblings, sister Máire, her brothers Pól and Ciarán and their uncles, Noel and Pádraig Duggan in the band Clannad when he met her. He began as their sound engineer and later became their manager.

“I knew Enya could sing, so I brought her into the group. It was my suggestion not Clannad’s. ­Reluctantly she said she would join us. From that moment on I felt ­responsible for her future,” he later told the Irish Times.

Enya subsequently left the family band to go solo and moved in with the Nicky, Roma and their two daughters, Ebony and Persia, at their home in Danieli Drive in Artane, Dublin, in 1981, where she lived and worked on her music in their homemade  16-track studio for more than a decade before finding worldwide success. The trios last collaboration was the album Dark Sky Island, in 2015, which hit number 4 in the UK charts.

Nicky is survived by his wife of over five deacades Roma, his daughters Ebony and Persia, grandchildren, brother, sisters, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, extended family and friends, and his “beloved friend and colleague” Enya.