Sinéad O’Connor: Who she was and why she was important to Ireland and the world

“Everyone wants a pop star, see? But I am a protest singer. I just had stuff to get off my chest. I had no desire for fame,” wrote Sinéad O’Connor in her 2021 memoir Rememberings.

Though O’Connor, who died on Wednesday aged 56, had no desire for fame, the singer became an international superstar in 1990 with her rendition of Nothing Compares 2 U.

She continued to remain in the spotlight over the next 30 years for her music, opposition to the Catholic Church and activism as well as her openness about her own personal troubles.

President Michael D Higgins said Ireland had lost “one of our greatest and most gifted composers, songwriters and performers of recent decades, one who had a unique talent and extraordinary connection with her audience”.

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Ian Brown, lead singer of The Stone Roses, described O’Connor as a “beautiful soul” and that hearing her “sing my songs in the studio in Dublin was magical and a highlight of my musical life”.

Born Sinéad Marie Bernadette O’Connor on December 8th, 1966, in Glenageary, south Dublin, O’Connor was one of five children. Her parents, Marie and John, married in 1960 and separated when O’Connor was nine. The singer later spoke about being physically and mentally abused by her mother, who died in a car crash in 1985.

She said, however, she had a “deep and infinite love and compassion” for both her parents, who “did their very best in what was a very difficult time for Ireland and for Irish people”.

O’Connor was sent to a “rehabilitation centre for girls with behavioural problems” aged 14, where she spent 18 months. She was subsequently sent to a boarding school in Waterford, joining a band shortly afterwards.

Joe Falvey, one of O’Connor’s former teachers, said he would come across the teenager strumming her guitar in the grounds of the boarding school in Newtown. “She was so pure. She was so genuine and so real. There was no compromising and I was proud of her,” he said.

O’Connor ran away from school at 16 and lived in a bedsit. She said her father “eventually agreed to let me stay once I agreed to remove the nose piercing I’d also gotten”.

“He paid my rent but none of my bills, so I had to get jobs.”

In 1985 O’Connor left for London after being invited by Ensign Records to sign a contract with them. Her first child was born when she was 20, three weeks before her first album, The Lion and the Cobra, was released.

Her second album, I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, was released in 1990 and its lead single, Nothing Compares 2 U, was named the number one world single that year by the Billboard Music Awards.

The same year O’Connor refused to appear onstage in New Jersey if The Star-Spangled Banner was played before her concert. She then pulled out of a Saturday Night Live TV appearance to protest against the show’s host comedian, Andrew Dice Clay.

The following year she boycotted the Grammy Awards to protest against the commercialism of the music industry.

In October 1992 O’Connor tore up a photograph of Pope John Paul II when she appeared on Saturday Night Live and told viewers to “fight the real enemy”.

The move drew much criticism, including from Madonna, who told RTÉ radio in an interview at the time, “I think there’s a better way to present her ideas rather than ripping up an image that means a lot to other people”.

“If she’s against the Roman Catholic Church and she has a problem with them, I think she should talk about it,” the American pop star said. “I think you have to do more than denigrate a symbol.”

At a Bob Dylan tribute gig in New York soon after, O’Connor was booed throughout her performance.

The Dubliner later said of the protest: “I’m not sorry I did it. It was brilliant.”

“But it was very traumatising,” she added. “It was open season on treating me like a crazy bitch.”

O’Connor, who married four times, was ordained a priest in the Latin Tridentine church, an independent Catholic church not in communion with Rome, in 1999.

Throughout her career, she recorded 10 solo albums, which have won or been nominated for five Grammy awards.

In 2007 O’Connor told the Oprah Winfrey talkshow that she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder four years previously and that before her diagnosis she had struggled with thoughts of suicide and overwhelming fear.

She said at the time that medication had helped her find more balance, but “it’s a work in progress”. O’Connor had also voiced support for other young women performers facing intense public scrutiny in recent years, including Britney Spears and Miley Cyrus.

The singer converted to Islam in 2018 and changed her name to Shuhada Sadaqat, though continued to perform under the name Sinéad O’Connor.

In January 2022, O’Connor’s son Shane died aged 17.

The singer described him as “the very light of my life” and said he had “decided to end his earthly struggle today and is now with God”.

O’Connor was presented with the inaugural award for Classic Irish Album at the RTÉ Choice Music Awards in March of this year. She received a standing ovation as she dedicated the award for the album, I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, to “each and every member of Ireland’s refugee community”.

“You’re very welcome in Ireland. I love you very much and I wish you happiness,” she said.

On July 12th, O’Connor posted on her official Facebook page that she had moved back to London, was finishing an album and planned to release it early next year. She said she intended to tour Australia and New Zealand towards the end of 2024 followed by Europe, the United States and other locations in early 2025.

In an interview with the San Diego Union Tribune in 2013, O’Connor mused “how would I like to be remembered?”

“I guess the same as any other woman. What’s the best way to put it? As a loving mother and grandmother. I’d like to be the rocking-est granny! I’d like to go out like [blues singer] Big Mama Thornton.”

O’Connor is survived by her three children and grandchildren.