Irish singer Sinead O'Connor has died at 56
Irish singer Sinead O'Connor has died at 56
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 across her heart. The album's title, The Lion and
the Cobra, is a reference to a Psalm 91 line regarding believers 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 after a nun handed her a guitar, she began 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
increasingly unpredictable in her convictions. 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 just not
as entertaining."
O'Connor later 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 powerfully 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."
Her music was appreciated all throughout the world, and her brilliance
was unparalleled. 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).
Post a Comment