Sinéad O'Connor

Sinéad O'Connor was born in Glenageary, Ireland, in 1966, and she had a voice that could go from a whisper to a banshee's shriek in a single breath. She'd been a member of the band In Tua Nua, and her solo debut, The Lion and the Cobra, in 1987, sounded like nobody else: Celtic chant, thunderous rock, a hint of the dance floor, and a singer who seemed to be baring a wound. That same year "Mandinka" charged ahead on a whooping, stamping rhythm, "Troy" smoldered into a storm, and "I Want Your Hands on Me" had a sultry, funky strut. The album was an international hit.

In 1990 came I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got, the biggest record of her career, and its lead single "Nothing Compares 2 U", a ballad of such naked grief that the world stopped to listen. It became her signature song, and the Billboard Music Awards named it the top single in the world that year. MTV handed her Video of the Year in 1990, "The Emperor's New Clothes" showed she still had plenty of fight, and the Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance and a BRIT Award followed in 1991.

She used the spotlight for her causes, speaking out on child abuse, racism, human rights and the rights of women, and she was just as open about her faith and her struggles with mental health. In 1992, on Saturday Night Live, she tore up a photograph of Pope John Paul II, which caused a global firestorm years before the abuse scandals in the Catholic Church became widely known. She kept making records her own way, among them Am I Not Your Girl?, Universal Mother, Faith and Courage and Throw Down Your Arms.

In 2018 she converted to Islam and took the name Shuhada' Sadaqat, though she kept recording as Sinéad O'Connor. Her memoir, Rememberings, became a bestseller in 2021. She died in 2023, and the following year she was nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.