Sinéad O’Connor, the Irish singer famed for her strong and beautiful voice, political views, and personal turmoil in her final years, has died. She was 56 years old at the time.
O’Connor’s rendition of “Nothing Compares 2 U” was one of the early 1990s’ greatest successes. Her relatives announced her death. Her cause of death and date of death were not made public. “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinéad,” the statement added. Her family and friends are distraught and have asked for privacy at this difficult time.”
In the late 1980s, alternative radio was filled with the voices of female artists who challenged commercial assumptions of what women should look like and sound like. O’Connor stood out in a gathering that featured Tracy Chapman, Laurie Anderson, and the Indigo Girls.
Her debut album cover, issued in 1987, was stunning – and not only because of her stunning looks. Her head was bald as an eaglet, and her hands were defensively clasped over her heart. The album’s title, The Lion and the Cobra, is a reference to a Psalm 91 line regarding Christians and the strength and persistence of their faith. Sinéad O’Connor was resilient throughout her childhood.
“I grew up in a severely abusive situation, with my mother being the perpetrator,” O’Connor told NPR in 2014. “So much of child abuse is about being voiceless, and it’s a wonderfully healing thing just to make sounds.”
After being kicked out of Catholic schools and constantly nabbed for stealing, O’Connor began creating noises in a juvenile delinquent home. But when a nun handed her a guitar, she started singing on the streets of Dublin and later joined the famed Irish band In Tua Nua.
O’Connor caught the attention of U2 guitarist The Edge, who signed her to the Ensign/Chrysalis label. In 1990, her second studio album, I Do Not Want What I Don’t Have, went double platinum, thanks in part to a popular love ballad written by Prince, “Nothing Compares 2 U.”
I Do Not Want What I Don’t Have was a synthesis of O’Connor’s devout musical sensibility with her rage at social injustice. She rejected its four Grammy nominations, calling it “too commercial” and “for destroying the human race.” She was barred from performing in a New Jersey stadium after refusing to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner,” whose lyrics laud bombs exploding in the air.
According to rock journalist Bill Wyman, O’Connor was part of a proud Irish heritage of speaking out against the existing order. “You know she’s always on the side of the victims, vulnerable, and weak,” he observes.
Sinéad O’Connor performed on Saturday Night Live in 1992, at the height of her stardom. During her presentation, she spoke out against racism and child abuse. When she ripped up a photo of then-Pope John Paul II to close the song, a rendition of Bob Marley’s “War,” there was complete quiet.
The media responded with a collective roar of anger. It drowned out an early warning about abuse in the Catholic church. Years later, in 2010, O’Connor told NPR that she knew precisely what she was in for.
“To be honest, it was fantastic,” she stated. “I mean, I understood how people were going to respond. I knew there might be complications. That was something I was willing to embrace. It was more crucial to me that I recognised what I shall refer to as the Holy Spirit.”
Joan of Arc of rock music, as she became known, grew more unpredictable in her beliefs. O’Connor was a feminist before she was not. She was a supporter of the Irish Republican Army until she wasn’t. A renegade cult ordained her as a Catholic priest. She became a Muslim. She moved from chastity to oversharing about her sexual preferences. After her conversion, she renamed herself Shuhada’ Sadaqat and continued to record music under her birth name. Her music was unpredictable, ranging from New Age to opera to reggae.
Even though O’Connor never had another success, the tabloids continued to cover her: Her four marriages, four divorces, and four children; her feuds with celebrities ranging from Frank Sinatra to Miley Cyrus throughout the years.
“I think people lost respect for her credibility,” Bill Wyman says. “And her later records aren’t nearly as entertaining.” They’re strange and badly manufactured. They’re simply not as entertaining.”
O’Connor subsequently turned to Facebook and Twitter to discuss her battle with mental illness. She mentioned suicide — and she tried it more than once.
If you grew up in the 1980s, one song from Sinéad O’Connor’s debut album that you heard over and again was “Never Gets Old.” If only she could have aged as dramatically as her most powerful songs.
Following her death, Ireland’s Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar, made a comment on social media, stating, “Really sorry to hear of Sinéad O’Connor’s passing.” Condolences to her family, friends, and everyone who enjoyed her music. “Ar dheis Dé go Raibh a hAnam” (May her soul rest at God’s right hand).
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