{"id":240366,"date":"2023-07-31T12:00:01","date_gmt":"2023-07-31T11:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=240366"},"modified":"2023-07-31T13:32:00","modified_gmt":"2023-07-31T12:32:00","slug":"sinead-oconnor-fiery-and-uncompromising-singer-dead-at-56","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2023\/07\/sinead-oconnor-fiery-and-uncompromising-singer-dead-at-56\/","title":{"rendered":"Sin\u00e9ad O\u2019Connor, Fiery and Uncompromising Singer, Dead at 56"},"content":{"rendered":"

Polarizing Irish singer-songwriter was unlikely pop superstar, though mental-health issues persisted throughout her career. RIP <\/em><\/p>\n

[Her most successful recording was Prince’s ‘<\/em>Nothing Compares 2 U‘ (on TMS Music Video of the Week<\/a>). — TMS Editor]
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26 Jul 2023 – <\/em>Sin\u00e9ad O\u2019Connor, the<\/span> fiery Irish singer-songwriter whose striking voice briefly made her an unlikely pop superstar while her bold public stances on child abuse, war, and organized religion made her a controversial figure, has died today at the age of 56.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor\u2019s family confirmed the singer\u2019s death in a statement<\/a> to Irish news network RTE. \u201cIt is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sin\u00e9ad. Her family and friends are devastated and have requested privacy at this very difficult time.\u201d No cause of death was provided.<\/p>\n

Already a rising star in the late Eighties, O\u2019Connor shot to fame in 1990 when her version of the Prince song \u201cNothing Compares 2 U\u201d became a Number One hit. Her Celtic-tinged vocal style, marked by breathy swoops that were by turns soothing and abrasive, would echo throughout the Nineties, influencing singers such as Sarah McLachlan and Alanis Morissette, who said O\u2019Connor\u2019s music was \u201creally moving for me, and very inspiring, before I wrote Jagged Little Pill<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though her singing was passionate and sensual, O\u2019Connor avoided the clich\u00e9d images that often straitjacketed female rock stars of that era. She was neither a girlish sexpot nor a hippie free spirit nor a posturing tough chick, and her fiercely idiosyncratic personal style \u2014 shaved head, emotionally ambiguous facial expressions, loose outfits \u2014 helped younger female artists discover new ways to reinvent themselves.<\/p>\n

Sin\u00e9ad Marie Bernadette O\u2019Connor was born on Dec. 8, 1966, in Glenageary, County Dublin, Ireland. Her parents separated when she was eight, and Sin\u00e9ad, along with two of her four siblings, went to live with her mother. O\u2019Connor would later claim that her mother, who died in a 1985 car accident, physically abused her. She sang about the effects of this abuse on her 1994 song \u201cFire on Babylon,\u201d and consistently advocated for abused children throughout her life. \u201cThe cause of all the world\u2019s problems, as far as I\u2019m concerned, is child abuse,\u201d she said in 1991<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fellow musicians recognized O\u2019Connor\u2019s gifts early on. When she was 15, she co-wrote \u201cTake My Hand,\u201d the first single for the soon-to-be successful Irish rock band In Tua Nua. In 1984, she and Colm Farrelly formed Ton Ton Macoute, and the group made a name for itself on the Dublin rock scene. But O\u2019Connor outshone her bandmates and was soon signed to Ensign Records. She moved to London and co-wrote \u201cHeroine\u201d with the Edge for the film Captive. <\/em>U2 were early supporters of O\u2019Connor\u2019s music, but she alienated them by dismissing the band as \u201cbombastic\u201d and defending the violent tactics of the Irish Republican Army. She also shaved her head. \u201c[The heads of Ensign] wanted me to wear high-heel boots and tight jeans and grow my hair,\u201d O\u2019Connor told Rolling Stone<\/em> in 1991<\/a>. \u201cAnd I decided that they were so pathetic that I shaved my head so there couldn\u2019t be any further discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n

The recording sessions for O\u2019Connor\u2019s debut album got off to a rocky start. She clashed with her initial producer, industry veteran Mick Glossip, firing him, scrapping the initial recordings, and badmouthing him to the press. O\u2019Connor convinced her label to let her produce the album herself, with recording assistance from drummer John Reynolds \u2014 who was also the father of O\u2019Connor\u2019s first son, Jake, born during this time. When The Lion and the Cobra <\/em>came out in 1987, it went gold, was critically lauded, and earned O\u2019Connor her first Grammy nomination. The track \u201cMandinka\u201d became a modern rock hit. O\u2019Connor, who was among the first rock musicians to embrace hip-hop, also crossed over to urban audiences with a remix of \u201cI Want Your (Hands on Me)\u201d that featured MC Lyte.<\/p>\n

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