"I didn't have any other abilities, and there was no learning support for girls like me, not in Ireland at that time. "I suppose I've got to say that music saved me,'' she said in an interview with the Independent newspaper in 2013. O'Connor, 20 years old and pregnant while making "Lion and the Cobra,'' co-produced the album. Her performance with a local band caught the eye of a small record label, and, in 1987, O'Connor released "The Lion and the Cobra,'' which sold hundreds of thousands of copies and featured the hit "Mandinka,'' driven by a hard rock guitar riff and O'Connor's piercing vocals. Sang and performed on the streets of Dublin, her influences ranging from Dylan to Siouxsie and the Banshees. But a nun gave O'Connor her first guitar, and soon she As a teenager she spent time in a church-sponsored institution for girls, where she said she washed priests' clothes for no wages. She had a difficult childhood, with a mother whom she alleged was abusive and encouraged her to shoplift. O'Connor announced in 2018 that she had converted to Islam and would be adopting the name Shuhada' Davitt, although she continued to use Sinead O'Connor professionally. I'm Catholic by birth and culture and would be the first at the church door if the Vatican offered sincere reconciliation,'' she wrote in the Washington Post in 2010. In 2010, when Pope Benedict XVI apologized to Ireland to atone for decades of abuse, O'Connor condemned the apology for not going far enough and called for Catholics to boycott Mass until there was a full investigation into the Vatican's role, which by 2018 was making international headlines.
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For many years, she called for a full investigation into the extent of the church's role in concealing child abuse by clergy.
In 1999, O'Connor caused uproar in Ireland when she became a priestess of the breakaway Latin Tridentine Church, a position that was not recognized by the mainstream Catholic Church. (Years later, Kristofferson recorded "Sister Sinead,'' for which he wrote "And maybe she's crazy and maybe she ain't/But so was Picasso and so were the saints.'') She was supposed to sing Dylan's "I Believe in You,'' but switched to an a cappella version of Bob Marley's "War,'' which she had sung on "Saturday Night Live.''Īlthough consoled and encouraged on stage by her friend Kris Kristofferson, she left and broke down, and her performance was kept off the concert CD. The following week, Joe Pesci hosted "Saturday Night Live,'' held up a repaired photo of the Pope and said that if he had been on the show with O'Connor he "would have gave her such a smack.'' Days later, she appeared at an all-star tribute for Bob Dylan at Madison Square Garden and was immediately booed. In 1989 she declared her support for the Irish Republican Army, a statement she retracted a year later.Īround the same time, she skipped the Grammy ceremony, saying it was too commercialized.Ī critic of the Catholic Church well before allegations sexual abuse were widely reported, O'Connor made headlines in October 1992 when she tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II while appearing live on NBC's "Saturday Night Live'' and denounced the church as the enemy. She feuded with Frank Sinatra over her refusal to allow the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner'' at one of her shows and accused Prince of physically threatening her. She was a lifelong non-conformist, she would say that she shaved her head in response to record executives pressuring her to be conventionally glamorous, but her political and cultural stances and troubled private life often overshadowed her music.
"She proved that a recording artist could refuse to compromise and still connect with millions of listeners hungry for music of substance,'' the magazine declared. "Nothing Compares 2 U'' received three Grammy nominations and was the featured track off her acclaimed album "I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got,'' which helped lead Rolling Stone to name her Artist of the Year in 1991. She was a star from her 1987 debut album "The Lion and the Cobra'' and became a sensation in 1990 with her cover of Prince's ballad "Nothing Compares 2 U,'' a seething, shattering performance that topped charts from Europe to Australia and was heightened by a promotional video featuring the gray-eyed O'Connor in intense close-up. Recognizable by her shaved head and elfin features, O'Connor began her career singing on the streets of Dublin and soon rose to international fame. Her family and friends are devastated and have requested privacy at this very difficult time,'' the singer's family said in a statement reported Wednesday by the BBC and RTE. "It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinead. Sinead O'Connor, the gifted Irish singer-songwriter who became a superstar in her mid-20s but was known as much for her private struggles and provocative actions as for her fierce and expressive music, has died at 56.
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