Sinéad O'Connor

We talked to the early hours and found ourselves falling in love: my year with Sinéad O’Connor

I bumped into her in a London pub and it felt like we were old friends. We spent more time watching Father Ted than talking about her music

John Brice
Friday 28 July 2023

I

t was summer 97, a beautiful warm evening. I was working in A&R at Warners, driving to a gig in west London, Sinéad was outside a pub with a couple of friends and we locked eyes and she waved. I’d met her a couple of times before but we’d never really chatted. I popped in, got us a drink and it was like we were old friends. She was wearing baggy torn jeans and a white vest, her beauty was captivating but in no way intimidating, she exuded warmth and kindness. We talked about Abba and what we listened to in our teens. She loved me telling her about all the early Smiths gigs in Manchester. I never made the gig that night. We would instead sit on her sofa and talk until the early hours and soon found ourselves falling in love.

 

Sinéad O'Connor
by Philip Burke

Controversy never drowned out the astonishing songcraft of Sinéad O’Connor

As well as being a fearless interpreter of others’ work, the late singer adapted to a seemingly endless array of styles, marking her out as a bold and utterly singular artist

Alexis Petridis
Wednesday 26 July 2023

Almost from the moment Sinéad O’Connor appeared in the mass public consciousness, she created controversy: her first release, a song called Heroine co-written with U2’s guitarist the Edge for the soundtrack to a largely forgotten 1986 film called Captive, was swiftly followed by the singer causing a furore by expressing her support for the IRA. Years later, she described her comments as “bollocks”, but further uproar would surround O’Connor on a regular basis: about her conversion to Islam (she called non-Muslims “disgusting”); about Prince, the author of her biggest hit, 1990’s Nothing Compares 2 U, whom she accused of physical abuse; and, most notably, about sexual abuse in the Catholic church, a subject which she took up long before it became a mainstream talking point.

 

Sinéad O’Connor, gifted and provocative Irish singer, dies at 56

O’Connor, who began her musical career singing on the streets of Dublin, was a star from her 1987 debut album ‘The Lion and the Cobra’

London

July 26, 2023

Sinéad O’Connor, the gifted Irish singer-songwriter who became a superstar in her mid-20s but was known as much for her private struggles and provocative actions as for her fierce and expressive music, has died at 56.

Obituaries / Sinéad O'Connor

Sinéad O'Connor

 

Sinéad O’Connor obituary

Singer who shot to global superstardom with a song by Prince, Nothing Compares 2 U, one of the biggest-selling singles of 1990

By her own account, the childhood of the musician Sinéad O’Connor, who has died aged 56, was more than usually difficult: her parents split when she was young and, against her wishes, she was sent to live with her mother, who she said physically abused her and encouraged her to shoplift. The stealing led to the 14-year-old Sinéad spending 18 months at a training centre that had previously been one of Dublin’s notorious church-affiliated Magdalene laundries.

Sinéad O'Connor

‘No one knew what to do’: when Sinéad O’Connor ripped up the pope’s photo on TV – the inside story

Record label executive Daniel Glass remembers the infamous 1992 SNL appearance that resulted in the artist becoming ‘totally cancelled’

Daniel Glass, as told to Laura Snapes

Tuesday 27 July 2023

At the record label Chrysalis in New York, we had a Wednesday marketing meeting every week. I was a young executive and the president came in and said, “I just came back from England and we signed a super talent.” I think she was 19 – it was Sinéad. This was before she shaved her head. When we heard [debut album] The Lion and the Cobra it was one of the greatest meetings I’ve ever attended – it was staggering, this record. It came out and we promoted it in a very unorthodox way. The key was getting it to go up the American college media charts, which it did and we took it to No 1. There were remixes of Mandinka and various other records – we had an MC Lyte version of I Want Your (Hands on Me).