SINEAD O'CONNOR (1966 - 2023)

Sinéad O'Connor, the gifted yet troubled Irish musician, has sadly passed away on July 26th at the age of fifty-six. No details have emerged to date on the cause of death. She was an amazing artist who was a true force of nature with a voice that could go from a soothing, gentle whisper to a raucous roar that could shake you to your core.

Born in Dublin, O'Connor suffered from emotional trauma and physical abuse since she was a child, largely from her mother, who suffered from mental illness, and from church clergy. As a teen, she was heading towards a destructive path with her involved in petty criminal acts and truancy. In an attempt to redirect her, O'Connor was sent to a Magdalene asylum where she developed her writing skills yet also suffered more abuse.

Her life turned more positive when she met musician, Colm Farrelly who formed a band with her called Ton Ton Macoute with O'Connor becoming the lead vocalist. This lead to her attracting the attention of music labels, eventually being signed as a solo performer by Ensign Records. O'Connor had always had a rebellious streak, which had gotten her into trouble in her youth, and when record executives wanted her looking like your standard female pop star with flowing hair and wearing mini-skirts, she pushed back by shaving her head while performing in t-shirts and torn denim.

With the release of her 1987 debut, "The Lion and the Cobra" (which she wrote or co-wrote all songs), it was clear that O'Connor had no interest in being an average pop musician but an independent-minded artist. The album was a collection of angsty songs with themes involving religion, race, sexuality and social oppression. "The Lion and the Cobra" brought O'Connor critical acclaim and an expanding fan following but it would be her 1990 follow-up album, "I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got" that would turn her into a pop music sensation. Her cover of Prince's "Nothing Compares 2 U" would become an international smash hit, being named the year's top world single according to Billboard.

O'Connor had difficulty handing this sudden fame, pushing back against the public scrutiny with erratic behavior which included the infamous moment in 1992 while promoting her new album, "Am I Not Your Girl?" on "Saturday Night Live" when after performing a version of Bob Marley's "War", she tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II to protest against the Church's silence on the child sexual abuse occurring there. Mocked and severely ridiculed at the time, it would not be until twenty years later before the Church would finally publicly acknowledge what was happening and what O'Connor did would be viewed as a courageous act.

Following this televised incident, O'Connor's career would never fully recover but she continued to make music on her own terms, releasing a total of ten studio albums with her final release, "I'm Not Bossy, I'm the Boss" in 2014. She was sadly never fully appreciated in her lifetime for her artistry, largely because she refused to play the pop music game. As a survivor of abuse, O'Connor became a vocal activist, demanding that the world pay attention to the suffering of the marginalized, using her voice and music in an attempt to make a positive change.