lit a candle 8d agoSome people leave a mark on the world that doesn't fade. Sinéad was one of them.
Their story
Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor was born on 8 December 1966 at the Cascia House Nursing Home on Baggot Street in Dublin, the third of five children of John Oliver "Seán" O'Connor, a structural engineer who later became a barrister and Divorce Action Group chair, and Johanna Marie O'Grady (1939-1985). She…
Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor was born on 8 December 1966 at the Cascia House Nursing Home on Baggot Street in Dublin, the third of five children of John Oliver "Seán" O'Connor, a structural engineer who later became a barrister and Divorce Action Group chair, and Johanna Marie O'Grady (1939-1985). She was named Sinéad after Sinéad de Valera and Bernadette after Saint Bernadette of Lourdes. An older brother is the novelist Joseph O'Connor. Her childhood was marked by her parents' separation and, by her own later account in the memoir *Rememberings* (2021), by severe physical and emotional abuse from her mother. At about 13 she went to live with her father. After shoplifting and truancy she spent about 18 months at the Grianán Training Centre in Drumcondra, run by the Order of Our Lady of Charity (a Magdalene-associated institution). There a volunteer connected to the band In Tua Nua heard her sing; she co-wrote and recorded "Take My Hand" with them but was considered too young to join. She later attended Maryfield College and boarded at Newtown School, Waterford, without sitting the Leaving Certificate in 1985. On 10 February 1985 her mother died in a car crash in Ballybrack, aged 45.
Through a *Hot Press* ad she met Colm Farrelly and formed Ton Ton Macoute, which led to a solo deal with Ensign/Chrysalis and management by Fachtna Ó Ceallaigh. She moved into the London music industry, co-wrote "Heroine" with U2's the Edge for the *Captive* soundtrack, and released *The Lion and the Cobra* (1987). The album and singles including "Mandinka" and "Troy" announced a raw, belting voice and a shaved-head image that rejected conventional pop femininity. Her son Jake was born 16 June 1987 with producer John Reynolds, whom she married in 1989 and divorced in 1991.
*I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got* (1990) made her a global star. Its lead single, Prince's "Nothing Compares 2 U," topped charts worldwide; the John Maybury video (close-up face, two tears) became one of the defining clips of the decade and won MTV Video of the Year. The album sold over seven million copies. She was named Rolling Stone Artist of the Year and won a Brit Award for International Female Solo Artist and a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance. She also refused the U.S. national anthem before a show, withdrew from an *SNL* booking hosted by Andrew Dice Clay, and drew Frank Sinatra's public ire.
On 3 October 1992, on *Saturday Night Live*, she sang an a cappella Bob Marley "War" and tore up a photograph of Pope John Paul II, saying "Fight the real enemy," in protest at Catholic Church abuse. The backlash was immediate and career-damaging in the United States, years before the scale of clerical abuse became mainstream news. She stood by the act; in *Rememberings* she wrote that the number-one record, not the protest, had derailed her from the path she wanted. Later albums moved through jazz standards (*Am I Not Your Girl?*, 1992), *Universal Mother* (1994), *Faith and Courage* (2000), Irish traditional *Sean-Nós Nua* (2002), reggae *Throw Down Your Arms* (2005), spiritual *Theology* (2007), and late originals *How About I Be Me (and You Be You)?* (2012) and *I'm Not Bossy, I'm the Boss* (2014).
She had four children: Jake (with Reynolds); daughter Brigidine Roisin Waters (born 6 March 1996 with columnist John Waters, after a custody battle ending with Roisin living with Waters); Shane (born 10 March 2004 with musician Dónal Lunny); and Yeshua (born 19 December 2006 with Frank Bonadio). She married Nick Sommerlad (2001-c.2002/03), Steve Cooney (2010-2011), and briefly Barry Herridge (Las Vegas, December 2011). She was ordained in an Independent Catholic church in 1999 as Mother Bernadette Mary; changed her legal name to Magda Davitt in 2017; and converted to Islam in October 2018, taking the name Shuhada' Sadaqat while still performing as Sinéad O'Connor. She spoke publicly about complex PTSD, borderline personality disorder, bipolar experiences, cannabis dependence, and long periods of psychiatric care, including on *Dr. Phil* in 2017 after a viral Facebook cry for help.
Shane died by suicide on 7 January 2022, aged 17. She cancelled touring and said there was "nothing to sing about." In early 2023 she moved back to London after about 23 years away, posted that she was finishing an album, and on 17 July 2023 wrote online that she had been "living as undead night creature" since Shane's death and that he was "the lamp of my soul." On 26 July 2023 she was found unresponsive at her Herne Hill flat and pronounced dead at the scene, aged 56. Police did not treat the death as suspicious. In January 2024 Southwark Coroner's Court stated she died of natural causes. In July 2024 her death certificate, registered by John Reynolds, recorded "exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and bronchial asthma together with low grade lower respiratory tract infection." A public funeral cortège passed through Bray on 8 August 2023, attended in spirit by thousands; President Michael D. Higgins was among those present for funeral rites. She was buried privately at Dean's Grange (Deansgrange) Cemetery. Tributes, covers, the documentary *Nothing Compares*, Annie Lennox's 2024 Grammy *In Memoriam* performance, and a 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nomination (not inducted) marked a posthumous reassessment of the artist who had been right about the Church when it was costly to say so.
Biography adapted from Wikipedia (Sinéad O'Connor); NYT obituary (Sisario/Coscarelli); BBC; Guardian; Rolling Stone; Irish Times; RTÉ; Rememberings (2021)..
In their own words
“Nothing compares to you.”
“Fight the real enemy.”
Spoken on Saturday Night Live, 3 October 1992, as she tore up a photograph of Pope John Paul II after an a cappella "War." (Wikipedia; contemporaneous TV history; Decider)
“I feel that having a number-one record derailed my career and my tearing the photo put me back on the right track... I wasn't born to be a pop star. You have to be a good girl for that.”
Rememberings (2021), on the aftermath of fame versus the SNL protest. (Widely quoted from the memoir; Guardian/review coverage)
“in real life you aren't allowed to say you're angry but in music you can say anything”
On discovering loud guitar music in adolescence (Rememberings / Wikipedia early-life citation).
“He was the love of my life, the lamp of my soul. We were one soul in two halves... I am lost in the bardo without him.”
Online tribute to son Shane, July 2023 (widely reported from her @786OmShahid posts; Irish Central, 7NEWS, Page Six). Account later deleted; wording preserved in major press.
“I'm proud to be a troublemaker. I don't do anything in order to cause trouble. It just so happens that what I do naturally causes trouble.”
Career-spanning interview remarks collected on IMDb Quotes and profile pieces. (IMDb Quotes page; interview roundups)
“When you live with the Devil you learn there's a God very quickly.”
Frequently cited interview line (Telegraph headline feature "Live with the devil and you find there's a God"; IMDb Quotes).
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinéad. Her family and friends are devastated and have requested privacy at this very difficult time.”
Family statement on her death, reported by RTÉ/BBC/AP, 26 July 2023.
Photos
9Sinéad O'Connor performing at the Cambridge Folk Festival 50th Anniversary in 2014.
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Sinéad O'Connor at The Music In My Head 2008 in The Hague
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Sinéad O'Connor and Bob Geldof at VDIFF 2020. Uploaded to YouTube by Dublin International Film Festival under CC-BY-3.0 Unported licence on July 21, 2020.
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Newspaper clipping of Sinéad O'Connor performing at the Paradise theater on March 31, 1988. Taken from the The Boston Globe, April 2, 1988.
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This made me cry. Thank you.