“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinéad,” her familyconfirmed in a statementto RTE andthe BBC. “Her family and friends are devastated and have requested privacy at this very difficult time.”
A cause of death was not disclosed.
Though the song was nominated for four Grammy Awards in 1991, she boycotted that year’s ceremony, writing in an open letter that the Academy “acknowledge[s] mostly the commercial side of art.”
David Corio/Redferns/Getty
The gesture was O’Connor’s response to the Catholic Church’s alleged cover up of the sexual abuse of children. (In the decades since, the Catholic Church has been involved in countless lawsuits involving child sexual abuse, according to theNew York Times.)
The stunt sparked serious backlash toward O’Connor, though she has since said she has no regrets (“A lot of people say or think that tearing up the pope’s photo derailed my career. That’s not how I feel about it,” she wrote in her 2021 bookRememberings. “I feel that having a number-one record derailed my career and my tearing the photo put me back on the right track”).
Sinead O’Connor in August 2014.Rob Ball/Redferns via Getty Images
Rob Ball/Redferns via Getty Images
In 2021, sheannounced her retirementfrom music and touring, writing that she’d “gotten older” and was “tired.” Days later, though, shereversed course, saying, “I love my job. Making music that is. I don’t like the consequences of being a talented (and outspoken woman) being that I have to wade through walls of prejudice every day to make a living.”
Born in Dublin on Dec. 8, 1966, O’Connor was the third of five children born to John, an engineer and lawyer, and his wife Marie.
The young O’Connor’s childhood was rocky; her parents divorced, and in 2012, she told PEOPLE that her mother psychologically and physically abused her and “spent a good time trying to destroy my reproductive system.”
“It was a torture chamber, really,” she said. “But I forgive my mother; she just wasn’t well.”
She ran away to live with her father at age 13, but two years later, was sent to a Magdalene asylum for “unruly” women for 18 months after she was caughtshoplifting.
Sinéad O’Connor at the Grammy Awards in 1989.Vinnie Zuffante/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Vinnie Zuffante/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
O’Connor was eventually diagnosed with bipolar disorder as well as complex post-traumatic stress disorder and borderline personality disorder. In 2015, she underwent a radical hysterectomy to treat endometriosis, which sent her into a downward spiral.
“You can never predict what might trigger the [PTSD]. I describe myself as a rescue dog: I’m fine until you put me in a situation that even slightly smells like any of the trauma I went through, then I flip my lid,” shetold PEOPLE in 2021. “I manage very well because I’ve been taught brilliant skills. There was a lot of therapy. It’s about focusing on the things that bring you peace as opposed to what makes you feel unstable.”
She released her debut album in 1987, and its 1990 followupI Do Not Want What I Haven’t Gotrocketed her to international fame on the back of “Nothing Compares 2 U,” which became a global hit.
Sinead O’Connor.Michel Linssen/Redferns/Getty
Michel Linssen/Redferns/Getty
For O’Connor, it was more than just a song. “The song reminded me of my mother,”she later admitted. “I made an emotional connection, which I was not expecting—it didn’t hit me when I was recording the song. It only kicked in when I was being filmed. So I was sitting there, thinking about me mother, and trying hard not to bawl my eyes out.”
Though it was Prince’s song that made her a star, her feelings toward the late “Purple Rain” singer were complicated, andin a passage fromRememberings, she recalled an evening in which he scolded her for swearing in interviews, and allegedly tried to hurt her using a stuffed pillowcase.
“It certainly didn’t change my opinion of him as an artist, which was the only opinion I could have had. I never knew him otherwise," she told PEOPLE in 2021 of the encounter. “Obviously, I came away not liking him very much and not particularly wanting to go around to see him again. But having said that, though, I won’t lie. I didn’t like the man.”
In spite of the song’s popularity, and the fact that she continued to release music, O’Connor’s career never reached the same heights after her appearance onSaturday Night Live, and she instead became wracked with problems in her personal life, including a painful custody battle with John Waters, the father of her daughter Roisin.
Facing accusations that she was an unfit mother, she tried to take her own life in 1999, reportedly swallowing 20 Valium pills on her 33rd birthday.
“That was… after a session in court that day where it was suggested that for the rest of my life I would only see my daughter once a month,”she said in 2005. “I made a very serious suicide attempt, and I did almost die.”
As she healed,O’Connor threw herself into motherhoodand religion, becoming an ordained priest of the Latin Tridentine Church (She later announced in 2018 that she’dconverted to Islam).
Though she announced a retirement in 2003, explaining that she no longer wanted to be famous and wanted to live “a ‘normal’ life,” she continued to release music.
Still, her mental health struggles continued to surface,culminating in a hospitalizationin 2022 after the death of her 17-year-old son, Shane.
In recent weeks, O’Connor appeared to be looking forward to the future, and wrote on Facebook that she was working on new music and had hopes for an international tour.
“Hi All, recently moved back to London after 23 years absence. Very happy to be home : ) Soon finishing my album. Release early next year : )” she wrote on July 11. “Hopefully Touring Australia and New Zealand toward end 2024. Europe, USA and other territories beginning early 2025 : )#TheBitchIsBack”
source: people.com
