Eurovision winner Fionnuala Sherry: 'My stage fright got so bad I felt like I was bungee jumping'

As the Irish half of Irish-Norwegian duo Secret Garden, Fionnuala Sherry has enjoyed a prolific career of globetrotting and recording platinum albums. And while last year should have been a victory lap for the pair, who won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1995 with the stirring 'Nocturne', a major accident left not just the band's anniversary shows, but the entire future of Secret Garden, hanging in the balance.

It started as an ordinary February morning: Fionnuala was coming back from getting the paper on Shelbourne Road in Dublin, when she tripped. To say that the timing was less than fortuitous is understating the case somewhat, for she was preparing for a string of momentous anniversary gigs.

Rather remarkably, it wasn't the first time the Naas-born violinist had befallen such an injury; some years ago, a similar fall almost put paid to her stellar career.

"I went up in the air and landed in enormous pain. I knew instantly I had broken both arms," she says. "I could feel I was going unconscious. I was lying there on the street, thinking: 'How am I going to play the violin again?'

"I got to speak to the surgeon and said, 'here's the deal. I need these (arms). I need to be back playing in a few weeks'. It wasn't until they went in during surgery that we knew how bad it was."

It was every musician's nightmare, but Fionnuala wouldn't allow herself to ponder the unthinkable. "Failure wasn't really an option. When someone tells you something you don't like, you kind of put your fingers in your ears and go 'lalalala'," she laughs. "But I couldn't accept it."

With her left elbow and the wrist on her bowing arm broken, rehabilitation became a full-time job. With the help of her husband Bernard, personal trainer Pat Henry, and physiotherapist Dr Marie Elaine Grant, Fionnuala set off on the arduous road to recovery.

"The lowest point came when they removed the pins in my right arm, and I didn't get back the movement in my arms that I thought I'd get," says Fionnuala. "That was really frightening. I think I probably cried for a day, and then I remember my mum saying, 'you learned to play violin before… you'd just have to relearn'."

Fionnuala has slowly but surely come through the ordeal, and things at Secret Garden HQ are in full throttle. Fionnuala is currently commuting to Sweden, where she is working in-studio with her Secret Garden co-founder Rolf Lovland on new material. The studio is where Fionnuala is at her happiest as a musician. Secret Garden may have toured the world several times over - they are veritable superstars in Asia - yet it hasn't stopped Fionnuala grappling with horrific stage fright over the years. In concert, Fionnuala is a lively and impassioned player, but behind the scenes, nerves have been a recurring issue.

Things came to a head at a sold-out gig in Singapore some years ago. She very nearly didn't make the performance, and not for the first time, the future of the band was in doubt. "I remember coming up to Rolf and saying, 'I can't do this. I'm out of here'," she recalls.

"It was like a bungee jump every time I went on stage. It just got very hard. I'd talked to Rolf about it a few months beforehand, and then I did a performance in Berlin - a classical, intimidating concert - that really got me thinking, 'do I really want to do this anymore?' We cancelled a long tour just to give me time out to consider my future."

Happily, the break gave her time to come to terms with stage fright, and she will soon play an intimate Whelan's gig alongside her old friend Brian Kennedy, in aid of Haven, a charity raising funds for the recovery in Haiti in the wake of Hurricane Matthew. She is also set to appear with Johnny Logan at the Pro Cathedral on December 13, in aid of the Peter McVerry Trust.

Homecoming gigs are a joy for the globetrotting star, more used to playing 5,000-capacity stadiums in Malaysia and Korea.

"The energy from a small crowd can be intense, but there's often a bit more banter," says Fionnuala. "Any time we've ever played Ireland, those gigs are at the top of my memory. In other countries, there's a real sense of 'show me what you can do'."

Secret Garden's lilting, ambient folk translates readily elsewhere; something that Fionnuala puts down to strong national folk traditions in far-flung countries.

"The music is so emotional and heartfelt, and the most important things for us is telling a story, and melody," she reveals. "That's the core of what most people understand and react to."

Some have dubbed Secret Garden 'the biggest Irish music export you've never heard of', and the label certainly raises a smile in Fionnuala.

"To be honest, we have a really great following in Ireland, and any time I meet people, they ask, 'when are you back playing?', but we've never really gone away," she laughs.

"Some people think we've done just one album, but we've done eight. We have an audience but it's impossible to get airplay. Even Lyric FM don't play us, yet we're played non-stop on Asian radio. It's a pity that in such a small country, we're not so protective of our own music."

Secret Garden look likely to continue their reign across the globe, but for Fionnuala, Ireland is a sanctuary away from the breakneck life of a reluctant superstar.

From time to time, she encounters Secret Garden fans in the most unlikely places: "When I broke my arms, and was in a hoodie and leggings with no make up on, the ambulance people who cut me out of my clothes recognised me," she laughs. "I thought it was a bit of a fluke, and then when I got to the hospital, the staff were like, 'I remember you from Eurovision!' It was such a brilliantly Irish thing to happen."

Fionnuala plays Whelan's, Wexford Street, Dublin on December 3 as part of a charity evening for Haven. See whelanslive.com