Entertainment
Irish singer Sinéad O’Connor dies aged 56
The musician was best known for her 1990 hit single Nothing Compares 2 U
Acclaimed Dublin singer Sinéad O’Connor has died at the age of 56.
In a statement, the singer’s family said:
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinéad. Her family and friends are devastated and have requested privacy at this very difficult time.”
Born Sinéad Marie Bernadette O’Connor on December 8, 1966 in Glenageary in County Dublin, she showed an interest in music and performing from a young age. She met Columb Farrelly through an advertisement she placed in Hot Press in mid-1984. They recruited a few other members and formed a band called Ton Ton Macoute. Sinéad dropped out of school and followed the other band members to Dublin.
Her time as a singer for Ton Ton Macoute brought her to the attention of the music industry, and she was eventually signed by Ensign Records. She soon began work on her first major project, providing the vocals for U2’s guitarist The Edge’s song ‘Heroine’, which was written for the soundtrack of Captive.
Sinéad O’Connor became a Latin Tridentine priest Mother Bernadette Marie in 1999.
Released in 1987, her debut album, The Lion and the Cobra, spawned hits such as Mandinka and Troy and propelled her into the spotlight. With her cover of Prince’s Nothing Compares 2 U, she became an international star. A huge hit around the world, the song earned her a Grammy Award and was named the top single in the world by Billboard.
O’Connor converted to Islam in 2018 and changed her name to Shuhada Sadaqat, though continued to perform under the name Sinead O’Connor. In 2021, she released a memoir Rememberings, while last year a film on her life was directed by Kathryn Ferguson.
In 1992, O’Connor tore up a photograph of Pope John Paul II on Saturday Night Live.
Sky Cinema/Sky Arts Documentary about Sinead O’Connor’s rise to fame and how her iconoclasm led to her exile from pop’s mainstream is to air shortly on Sky Documentaries
In 2000, she openly admitted to being a lesbian, despite her previous marriages. She has married four times: first to John Reynolds in 1987, then to Nicholas Sommerlad in 2001, then to Steve Cooney in 2010, and finally to Barry Herridge in 2011. She had four children and welcomed her first grandchild in 2015.
As an advocate for abused children, she had a troubled childhood and claimed that her mother was abusive. Her parents split when she was 8 and in 1979, she left her mother and went to live with her father and his new wife, but her frequent shoplifting landed her in a Magdalene Asylum at the age of 15.
The documentary about her life, Nothing Compares, will be available on Sky Documentaries and NOW from 29 July.
