Sinéad O’Connor Dies At 56
• Irish singer Sinéad O’Connor has died at the age of 56. Her cause of death has not yet been revealed. The Irish Times was first to report her passing.
O’Connor shot to international stardom in 1990 with her heartrending cover of the Prince-penned “Nothing Compares 2 U,” which reached No. 1 in several countries, and remained atop the charts in Ireland for 11 weeks. The single earned Grammy nominations for “Record of the Year,” “Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female” and Best Music Video, Short Form,” and the album, I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, won the Grammy for “Best Alternative Music Performance.”
As reported by Variety, O’Connor courted controversy throughout her career, most famously, in 1993, during an appearance on NBC’s Saturday Night Live, when O’Connor ripped a picture of the Pope into pieces while singing an acapella version of Bob Marley’s “War” as a protest against sexual abuse within the church; NBC received over 4,400 complaint calls as a result.
O’Connor, who was born into a troubled family in Dublin on December 8, 1966 was long outspoken about her decades-long struggle with mental illness. In a 2007 interview she revealed she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2003 and had attempted suicide in 1999 on her 33rd birthday. Seven years later, however, she stated that she had gotten three further opinions stating that she was not bipolar. In 2015, O’Connor posted on her Facebook page that she had taken an overdose as a result of troubles between herself and her ex-husband and the father of her youngest child Shane. Irish police later said they had located O’Connor and she was “safe and sound” and receiving medical attention. Tragically, Shane, 17, took his own life in January 2022.
O’Connor, who had changed her name to Shuhada’ Sadaqat in 2018 when she converted to Islam, recently wrote on her Facebook page that she had moved back to London after 23 years and was finishing an album to be released next year. She also shared plans to tour in Australia and New Zealand in 2024, and in Europe, the United States and other territories in 2025. O’Connor is survived by her three children.
• Please feel free to use the Benztown Audio Tribute to Sinéad O’Connor, produced by Peter Murphy, written by Thomas Green, and voiced by Darren Silva.
Pictured: O’Connor on stage at the Olympic Ballroom in 1988. [Photo: Independent Newspapers Ireland/NLI Collection]
