Sinéad O’Connor dies at the age of 56 - 18 months after son's tragic death
By Zoe Delaney, Assistant Showbiz Editor - The Mirror
https://i.imgur.com/pJdqzJgl.jpg
Sinéad O’Connor has died, it's been reported.
According the Irish Times, the iconic Nothing Compares 2 U singer has passed away at the age of 56.
The Irish singer is survived by three children. Her son Shane passed away last year at the age of 17.
In her final social media post, Sinead tweeted a picture of her late son and wrote: "Been living as undead night creature since. He was the love of my life, the lamp of my soul."
As reports of Sinead's death broke, fans and stars took to social media to remember the talented artist and pay tribute to her legacy.
Dara O'Briain told his Twitter followers: "Ah sh**e, Sinead O’Connor has died. That’s just very sad news. Poor thing. I hope she realised how much love there was for her."
https://i.imgur.com/X6f3PRu.png
"Sinead was the true embodiment of a punk spirit. She did not compromise and that made her life more of a struggle. Hoping that she has found peace," The Charlatans singer Tim Burgess penned on Twitter.
Born Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor in Dublin on 8 December 1966, O’Connor rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra, and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a new arrangement of Prince's song "Nothing Compares 2 U".
After her parents divorced when she was eight, O’Connor claimed she was physically abused - detailed in her song "Fire on Babylon" - and she has consistently advocated on behalf of abused children.
Her interest in music began in 1979, when at the age of 15 her shoplifting and truancy issues led to her being placed in a Magdalene Asylum, for 18 months. It was here she started to develop her writing and music and was subsequently “discovered” by the drummer of popular Irish band Tua Nua, where she went on to co-write their song Take My Hand.
In 1985 while performing in a band called Ton Ton Macoute she left and moved to London where she was signed to Ensign records.
At the age of 20, while recording her first album, The Lion and the Cobra, she became pregnant by her session drummer John Reynolds.They had a son, Jake, and married in 1987.
Her first album was hailed "a sensation", reaching gold record status and earning O’Connor a Grammy nomination. Upon the release of her second album – 1990's I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got – she had formed the identity with which we’ve come to associate her - in particular, her trademark shaved head.
https://i.imgur.com/HljerTa.png
Initially an assertion against traditional views of women, after she began to grow it back, but shaved it off again after she was compared to singer Enya.
She said: "I don't feel like me unless I have my hair shaved. So even when I'm an old lady, I'm going to have it."
The album contained the breakthrough hit "Nothing Compares 2 U" that saw her reach superstar status. It was an obscure piece obscure piece originally written by Prince for his side project, The Family.
In Ireland it went on to become the eighth most successful single of the 90s, characterised by its artsy filmclip.
It received worldwide recognition and earned O’Connor several Grammy nominations - she eventually won the 1991 Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance, but boycotted the awards. She was also named Artist of the Year in 1991 by Rolling Stone magazine.
She was nominated for another two Grammy Awards for her release Universal Mother (1994) and also toured with Lollapalooza in 1995. However, she dropped out when she became pregnant to Irish journalist John Waters. She gave birth to second child, a daughter, named Roisin.
https://i.imgur.com/KhnvSyG.png
In the late 90s O’Connor was ordained as a priest and wished to be called Mother Bernadette Mary. Directly after releasing her 2003 double album She who Dwells in the Secret Place of the Most High Shall Abide Under the Shadow of the Almighty, she announced her retirement from music.
As we now know, her retirement was short lived and she returned to the industry, albeit going in a different direction with her sound - releasing a Reggae album in 2005, after she spent time in Jamaica in 2004.
Her mental health issues began to come to light when, in 2007, she disclosed on The Oprah Winfrey Show, that she’d been diagnosed with bipolar disorder four years earlier, and had attempted suicide on her 33rd birthday in 1999. Then, in 2012 O'Connor announced on her website that she was "very unwell" having suffered a breakdown towards the end of 2011. However in 2014, she said she was not in fact bipolar and would later blame her mental state on the lack of hormone-replacement therapy following a hysterectomy.
Aside from her music, O’Connor used her voice to raise awareness for charities, issues and causes throughout her career. however, the singer was at the centre of many controversies during her long career. Most notably, in 1992, she used a performance on Saturday Night Live to protest child abuse, ripping a picture of Pope John Paul II while singing the word “evil”.
