Sinéad O’Connor, the talented and controversial singer known for her iconic song “Nothing Compares 2 U,” has passed away at the age of 56.
In a statement, O’Connor’s family expressed their deep sadness and requested privacy during this difficult time.
O’Connor burst onto the music scene in 1987 with her debut album, “The Lion and the Cobra,” when she was just 20 years old. Throughout her career, she released a total of 10 studio albums.
Three years after her debut, O’Connor gained worldwide fame with her rendition of “Nothing Compares 2 U,” originally written by Prince. The song became a sensation and was named the number one world single in 1990 by the Billboard Music Awards.
The accompanying music video, featuring a close-up of O’Connor’s tearful face, became just as iconic as the song itself and is considered one of the most recognizable clips of the decade.
In 1991, O’Connor won a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance for her album “I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got.”
In 2018, O’Connor changed her name to Shuhada’ Sadaqat after converting to Islam.
“This is to announce that I am proud to have become a Muslim,” she wrote on Twitter in October 2018. “This is the natural conclusion of any intelligent theologian’s journey. All scripture study leads to Islam. Which makes all other scriptures redundant. I will be given (another) new name. It will be Shuhada’.”
In January 2022, O’Connor tragically lost her 17-year-old son, who she said “decided to end his earthly struggle today and is now with God.”
“Like, how has a seventeen-year-old traumatised young person WHO WAS ON SUICIDE WATCH in Tallaght Hospital’s Lynn Ward been able to go missing???” O’Connor wrote in a since-deleted tweet.
As she continued to grieve the loss, O’Connor’s management team announced that she would be cancelling all her scheduled gigs and would not be performing for the rest of the year.
“I’ve decided to follow my son. There is no point living without him,” she said of Shane, 17, whose body was found on January 7, a day after he went missing from suicide watch at an Irish hospital.
Her final tweet earlier this month was a tribute to her late son.
??????????#lostmy17yrOldSonToSuicidein2022.
Been living as undead night creature since. . He was the love of my life, the lamp of my soul. We were one soul in two halves. He was the only person who ever loved me unconditionally. I am lost in the bardo without him pic.twitter.com/aC8BOmLQ9N— Sinead Marie-Bernarde Aoibheann O’Connor (@786OmShahid) July 17, 2023
O’Connor’s career was marked by controversy, and she often made headlines for her actions.
In 1992, O’Connor made a memorable appearance on “Saturday Night Live” where she tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II on stage to protest against sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. This act resulted in her being banned from NBC for life and booed offstage at a Bob Dylan tribute concert.
Years later, O’Connor revealed in her memoir, “Rememberings,” that her intention was to destroy her mother’s photo of the pope, which she believed represented lies, liars, and abuse.
Almost 30 years later, O’Connor stands by her decision to tear up the photo of the pope on camera, stating that she had no desire for fame and simply wanted to express her protest.
O’Connor was born in Glenageary, south Co Dublin, in 1966. She spoke openly about the abuse she suffered at the hands of her mother after her parents separated when she was young.
Her first marriage to music producer John Reynolds resulted in the birth of her son, Jake. She later had a second child with Reynolds, but they decided to abort the pregnancy due to their separation. O’Connor then had a daughter, Roisin, with Irish journalist John Waters in 1996. The couple went through a highly publicized custody battle for their daughter, with O’Connor eventually agreeing to let Roisin live with Waters.
In the mid-2000s, O’Connor welcomed two more children. She had a son, Shane, in 2004 following a brief romance with Donald Lunny. Two years later, she gave birth to son Yeshua, whose father is Frank Bonadio. O’Connor also had three other failed marriages, each lasting less than a year. Her fourth marriage to therapist Barry Herridge ended after just a week.
O’Connor is survived by her three children.
The Post has reached out to O’Connor’s representatives for comment.
This is a breaking story, and we will provide updates as they become available.