Sinéad O'Connor

The Dublin singer and songwriter whose 1987 debut The Lion and the Cobra ends its first half with the six-minute "Troy".

Dublin to Ensign

Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor was born on December 8, 1966 in Dublin. In 1984 she joined Ton Ton Macoute, formed through a Hot Press advertisement with Colm Farrelly, and signed to Ensign, with Fachtna O Ceallaigh as manager. She co-wrote "Heroine" with the Edge for the film Captive in 1986 and 1987. Her debut album, The Lion and the Cobra (October 5, 1987), brought a first American television appearance on Late Night with David Letterman on September 7, 1988, singing "Mandinka". In 1989 she appeared on The The's Mind Bomb, on "Kingdom of Rain".

I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got (1990) sold more than seven million copies, and NME ranked it the second best album of 1990. Its "Nothing Compares 2 U", written by Prince, was released on January 8, 1990, spent four weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and was produced by O'Connor and Nellee Hooper; John Maybury's video won three MTV Video Music Awards including video of the year. She declined to attend the 1991 Grammys, where she won best alternative music performance. Later albums were Am I Not Your Girl? (1992), Universal Mother (1994), Faith and Courage (2000), Sean-Nos Nua (2002), Throw Down Your Arms (2005), Theology (2007), How About I Be Me (and You Be You)? (2012) and I'm Not Bossy, I'm the Boss (August 11, 2014). Her memoir Rememberings appeared on June 1, 2021.

Afterward

She died on July 26, 2023, aged 56. The documentary Nothing Compares, directed by Kathryn Ferguson, premiered at Sundance on January 21, 2022 and won two British Independent Film Awards; the Guardian's Peter Bradshaw gave it four stars, calling it a bracing guide to a brilliant individual who declined to conform. The Choice Music Prize named I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got the classic Irish album in March 2023, and Annie Lennox sang "Nothing Compares 2 U" at the 66th Grammys on February 4, 2024, followed by a Carnegie Hall tribute on March 20, 2024. An Post issued a stamp for her on July 15, 2021. Setlist.fm shows "Nothing Compares 2 U" as her most played song, 190, and Sharon Van Etten as the most frequent coverer of her songs.