STANDING in the ‘Summer Sunshine’, well spring sunshine, after a ten year break The Corrs are back and looking forward to performing at one of the “most spectacular” venues of their career.

Andrea, Sharon, Caroline, and Jim Corr will be joining Sir Elton John at the Nocturne Live 2016 four-day music event at Blenheim Palace in June.

The Irish pop band will be performing an eclectic mix of their popular hits from the early noughties as well as tracks from their new album ‘White Light’ on Friday, June 24.

Sharon said: “It is a pretty dynamic set, we will be giving the fans their favourites from our old albums but then it will go into a lovely acoustic section and into a four part harmony.

“Then we will do some songs from the new album as well.”

Although Spain, Monaco, Austria and France are still on the agenda for the White Light World Tour, they are eagerly anticipating their gig at Blenheim.

As he snapped pictures of a duck-egg blue organ and the private chapel in the Palace, he said: “We are so excited to be playing at Blenheim, it is absolutely beautiful, and who wouldn’t be excited to play here?

“We’ve had this ten year break and I think we are coming back as an even stronger band.

“At the peak of our career it was just crazy and I think now we are able to appreciate it all a little bit more.”

The siblings hit mainstream success in 2000 with their third album, ‘In Blue’ which reached number one in its first sales week in the UK, Ireland, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

The track ‘Breathless’ rocketed to number one in the UK and is probably the song everyone sings whenever you mention the band’s name.

Sitting like fashionable leather clad ducklings in a row amongst the grandeur of the palace, the musicians said it was drummer, Caroline, also known to fans as the “chick with stick”, who had got sick and tired of “putting the bins out” and rallied her siblings together for one last shot.

She said: “We did so much in our career and I just thought let’s do this again.

“When I said it everyone was really enthusiastic and we thought we would just do a few songs and see how they went.

“We didn’t expect to write a whole album and then have a world tour on top of that. It was an added bonus.”

Andrea, who admitted she was the messiest of them all on the tour bus, said they wrote the new album as they had always done, from personal experiences.

She said: “We went into this little studio off the main road just to see if we had any more lyrics in us and it turned out we had enough to make a new album.

“All our music has a lot to do with life and death but very much about life affirming really and living your whole life, which is why I think we wanted to give this a go again.

“I think my favourite track would be ‘Ellis Island’ it is beautifully raw and an emotional song but that is today, I would probably change my mind again if you asked me tomorrow.”

Despite taking time out to raise their families and embark on solo careers, the band said their identities and music had not strayed from their humble roots in Dundalk, Ireland.

Sharon said: “I think we have really grown together and we’ve pushed each other really hard to make our songs just right, where we’ll say ‘oh that needs a chorus here’ or ‘the verse doesn’t work with that chorus.

“And with our identity, we had something unique with our music and song writing and we were lucky enough to have people surrounding us nurturing it rather than trying to change or mould it into something else.”

Now with added parental responsibilities The Corrs said their priorities have changed from when they first hit the music scene in the late 90s.

Andrea added: “Obviously our children come first and we make sure we are not away for too long so we can still do the school run and be with them during the day.

“Some families whose parents work from seven to seven do not really get to see their children during the day, they’ll only have a short time with them.

“But when we’re home, we’re there 24/7 with the children which is great.”

But the normality of family life certainly hasn’t rubbed off on their style or enthusiasm for their music.

Jim added: “We’re excited to be able to be back, visit all these beautiful places and continue performing together.

“I think we all missed playing with each other.”

Nocturne Live 2016 is from June 23 to June 26, and The Corrs will be headlining the Friday’s programme of music and entertainment.

For more information and tickets to Nocturne Live 2016 at Blenheim Palace, visit: blenheimpalace.com/attractions-and-events/events/2016/summer/nocturne-live.html