By Elliott West
“I seek no longer to be a ‘famous’ person, and instead I wish to live a ‘normal’ life. I could stand in the street and sing and get enough to pay the bills. I don’t need millions of dollars. When I sing, it’s the most solitary state: just me, and the microphone, and the holy spirit”.
Sinéad O’Connor
Introduction
The music video used to define an artist and in a generation where MTV ruled the musical beat, lots of time, effort and resources were thrown at striving for perfection for that song that glided up the charts to the number one spot. With the dawn of downloads and streaming, this now seems a distant memory but for one Irish singer, it would be a formula that defined her career. The year was 1990 and thanks to a song written by Prince, Sinéad Marie Bernadette O’Connor achieved International success. A music video that went back to basics, shot in black and white and totally focused on Sinéad’s visage and facial expressions. This shaved-headed Irish diva executed the words of this song to perfection, producing a voice that was hypnotic, fearless, rivetting and unforgettable. A song that dominated the airwaves, brought tears to your eyes and joy to your heart. A poetic melody that was penned for lovers, describing the raw emotion of true love, the heartbreak of losing your soulmate, like “a bird without a song”. This is bottled raw emotion, screaming with the narrative of someone who is experiencing the roller coaster of emotions since her lover left 7 hours and 15 days ago and took their love away. The lover is not defined as male or female so this is a song that relates to all, it is inclusive, open and honest.
Defined
Despite the huge success of this song, I do feel that it would become the monkey on her back. When people talk about O’Connor they just refer to that. I want to explore in this piece, the gifted music artist and the gentle soul whose music I first fell in love with on her debut album The Lion and the Cobra in 1987. I had this on cassette and played it so many times that I had to get a biro and wind the tape back into place when it escaped in a frenzy. Music that sent my Cork blood bubbling to the surface and made my Sony Walkman go into overdrive mode.
This Irish lady with rock pool eyes hailed from Dublin. Born in the height of the Swinging Sixties in 1966, Sinéad was born into a highly religious Ireland, a country where the Catholic Church dominated everyday life. Yet there was something in this young girl’s DNA that just wanted to press the rebel button. She didn’t want to conform, born out of the fractured childhood that sent her being pulled from pillar to post between her parents. A jagged life path led to a cry for help at the age of 15 when she turned to truancy and shoplifting and was put in a Magdalene asylum, An Grianan Training Centre, once one of the notorious Magdalene laundries, originally set up to incarcerate young girls deemed to be promiscuous. A place where she would remain for 18 months.
Yet this asylum turned out to be not her punishment but a place where Sinéad could spread her creative wings.A time enhanced when a nun gave her a guitar. She developed her writing and music here but drowned at the same time in its conformity. When he rebelled, Sinéad was sent to the adjoining nursing home. A nightmare that was lived in reality and a place where sleep became redundant. She later described this time saying:
“I have never—and probably will never—experience such panic and terror and agony over anything.”
Sinéad O’Connor
Panic and terror would be constant emotions throughout this singer’s life and she was constantly haunted by her parents’ influence. Her mother, Marie died in a tragic car accident in 1985 aged 45. A crash occurred when her mother lost control of the vehicle on an icy road and hit a bus. Sinéad was only 18 at the time. A tragedy that never left and was made worse by the verbal abuse that her mother had inflicted on her growing up. Sinéad described her family as messed up, one that didn’t communicate and fuelled agony. O’Connor just wanted to fight off her parents’ voices and gather a sense of self-esteem, but only when that happened would she really be able to sing.
Singing Career
Sinéad O’Connor first caught the attention of listeners with the band Ton Ton Macoute and was quickly scooped up by a record label, Ensign Records under the guidance of her manager Fachtna Ó Ceallaigh, former head of U2’s Mother Records. A singing career that would only be paused by a brief retirement due to fibromyalgia in the early 2000s. She recorded and toured constantly until her eventual retirement in 2022 when she announced on Twitter:
“This is to announce my retirement from touring and from working in the record business. I’ve gotten older and I’m tired. So it’s time for me to hang up my nipple tassels, having truly given my all. NVDA in 2022 will be my last release. And there’ll be no more touring or promo”.
Sinéad O’Connor
Her memoir Rememberings was published in June 2021 to critical acclaim and was considered to be one of the best books of the year. Yet it was tinged with tragedy when her son Shane died aged 17 in January 2022. She went on to release one more song The Skye Boat Song which became the theme tune for the fantasy drama series Outlander.
The Rebel and Religion
Although born a Catholic, O’Connor became disillusioned with the practices of the church and the scandals that rocked its foundations. She once tore up a picture of Pope John Paul II on the US programme Saturday Night Live and was keen to protest against child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. The singer converted to Islam in 2018, changing her name to Shuhada’ Sadaqat. Her death at only 56, found unresponsive in her London home and pronounced dead on the scene, comes as a complete shock. It remains to be seen how she departed this life but Sinéad will remain an iconic singer of her time and loved by fans and bands alike.
