{"id":26900,"date":"2023-07-26T15:12:15","date_gmt":"2023-07-26T19:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=26900"},"modified":"2023-07-26T15:14:20","modified_gmt":"2023-07-26T19:14:20","slug":"remembering-the-life-of-outspoken-singer-sinead-oconnor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2023\/07\/remembering-the-life-of-outspoken-singer-sinead-oconnor.html","title":{"rendered":"Remembering the Life of Outspoken Singer Sin\u00e9ad O\u2019Connor"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_26906\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-26906\" style=\"width: 768px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2023\/07\/Sinead-OConnor-01_credit-Pymouss-wikimedia-scaled.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-26906\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2023\/07\/Sinead-OConnor-01_credit-Pymouss-wikimedia-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"sinead o'connor\" width=\"768\" height=\"576\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-26906\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pymouss\/Wikimedia.org<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Sin\u00e9ad O\u2019Connor, the Irish singer whose discography includes hits like \u201cNothing Compares 2 U\u201d and was dedicated to speaking out on various issues, has died at 56. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rte.ie\/entertainment\/2023\/0726\/1396681-sinead-o-connor\/\">Her family confirmed in a statement to RTE<\/a>, saying, \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<\/p>\n<p>She was born Sin\u00e9ad Marie Bernadette O\u2019Connor in Dublin on December 8, 1966. Her childhood was rocky due to her parent\u2019s divorce. In 2021, she told <em>PEOPLE Magazine <\/em>that her mother physically and psychologically abused her and \u201cspent a good time trying to destroy my reproductive system.\u201d She said, \u201cIt was a torture chamber, really. But I forgive my mother; she just wasn\u2019t well.\u201d When she was 13, O\u2019Connor ran away to live with her father, but at 15, she was sent to a Magdalene asylum for \u201cunruly\u201d women for 18 months after being caught shoplifting.<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Connor shot to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album \u201cThe Lion and the Cobra,\u201d achieving worldwide success in 1990 with a new arrangement of Prince\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=0-EF60neguk\">Nothing Compares 2 U<\/a>.\u201d The song was nominated for four Grammys in 1991. Still, O\u2019Connor boycotted that year\u2019s ceremony, writing an open letter that the Academy \u201cacknowledges mostly the commercial side of art.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WnjR7jc0rao\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Two years after the massive hit, O\u2019Connor made headlines again with an infamous appearance on \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d where she tore up a picture of Pope John Paul II after performing an acapella version of \u201cWar\u201d by Bob Marley. When she finished, she told the audience to \u201cFight the real enemy.\u201d The stunt sparked adverse backlash toward O\u2019Connor, though she said she didn\u2019t regret it.<\/p>\n<p>She wrote in her 2021 book <em>Remeberings, <\/em>\u201cA lot of people say or think that tearing up the pope\u2019s photo derailed my career. That\u2019s not how I feel about it. I feel that having a number one record derailed my career, and my tearing the photo put me back on the right track.\u201d 2021 was the same year O\u2019Connor announced her retirement from music and touring, writing that she\u2019d \u201cgotten older\u201d and was \u201ctired.\u201d However, she changed her mind days later, saying, \u201cI love my job. Making music, that is. I don\u2019t like the consequences of being a talented and outspoken woman, being that I have to wade through a wall of prejudice every day to make a living.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In January 2022, she announced the\u00a0death of her 17-year-old son\u00a0Shane, one of her four children, shortly after he\u2019d gone missing. She tweeted, \u201cMy beautiful son, Nevi\u2019im Nesta Ali Shane O\u2019Connor, the very light of my life, decided to end his earthly struggle today and is now with God. May he rest in peace, and may no one follow his example. My baby. I love you so much. Please be at peace.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In her last social media post, Sinead tweeted\u00a0a photo of her late son\u00a0and wrote, \u201cBeen living as undead night creature since. He was the love of my life, the lamp of my soul.\u201d O\u2019Connor is survived by her three children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sin\u00e9ad O\u2019Connor, the Irish singer whose discography includes hits like \u201cNothing Compares 2 U\u201d and was dedicated to speaking out on various issues, has died at 56. Her family confirmed in a statement to RTE, saying, \u201cIt is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sin\u00e9ad. Her family and friends are&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":26906,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5693,19],"class_list":["post-26900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-television","tag-nothing-compares-2-u","tag-sinead-o-conner"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Remembering the Life of Outspoken Singer Sin\u00e9ad O\u2019Connor<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sin\u00e9ad O\u2019Connor, the Irish singer best known for &quot;Nothing Compares 2 U&quot; and speaking out on social issues, passed away at 56 years old.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link 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