SINEAD O'CONNOR
G'day folks,
Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter who
rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the
Cobra. With her
signature shaved head, Sinead O'Connor emerged with a powerful and expressive
voice, complex songs, and a fair share of controversy.
Born on
December 8, 1966, in Dublin, Ireland, Sinead O'Connor started her music career
began when she was discovered by a local drummer. With fame came controversy:
Among other incidents, when appearing on Saturday Night Live, O'Connor
tore up a picture of the pope. Whether or not such controversy damaged her
career, O'Connor has not released an album since 2000.
Singer-songwriter.
Born December 8, 1966, in Dublin, Ireland. After a difficult childhood (her
parents divorced early on and her mother was frequently abusive), O'Connor was
sent to reform school after being caught shoplifting. Her music career began
when she was "discovered" by the drummer of the popular Irish band In
Tua Nua and co-wrote their hit song "Take My Hand." Before finishing
school, O'Connor ran away to Dublin, where she sang and played guitar on the
street and in pubs and worked for a singing telegram service.
While
performing with a Dublin band called Ton Ton Macoute, O'Connor caught the
attention of the two owner-managers of a small London record label called
Ensign Records. Ensign released her debut album, The Lion and the Cobra,
late in 1987. Critics lauded O'Connor's powerful and expressive voice and noted
the complexity of her songs, even while acknowledging their decidedly
uncommercial nature. Though it had no major hit singles, the album eventually
sold over 500,000 copies and went platinum.
With the
1990 release of O'Connor's second album, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got,
the bald-headed singer-songwriter became an international star. Driven by the
phenomenal success of the smash hit single "Nothing Compares 2 U" (a
once-obscure song written by Prince and first recorded by a band called the
Family), the album shot to the top of the Billboard charts and nabbed O'Connor
four Grammy Award nominations including Best Album, Best Song, Best Female
Vocalist, and Best Alternative Album. The video for "Nothing Compares 2
U" won the MTV Award for Video of the Year, and O'Connor was named Artist
of the Year in 1991 by Rolling Stone.
Her next
two albums, Am I Not Your Girl? (1992) and Universal Mother
(1994), made far less of an impact either critically or commercially. Soon,
however, O'Connor became famous for her controversial public outbursts, beginning
in 1989 when she announced her support for the radical Irish Republican Army
(IRA); she retracted the statement one year later. She again made headlines in
1990 when she refused to appear onstage in New Jersey if "The
Star-Spangled Banner" were played before the concert. In 1991, O'Connor
boycotted the Grammy ceremony and refused her award for Best Alternative Album,
maintaining that her absence was a protest against the extreme commercialism of
the Grammy Awards.
Even more
publicity surrounded a 1992 performance by O'Connor on Saturday Night Live,
during which she tore up a photograph of Pope John Paul II, denouncing the
Catholic Church as "the real enemy." Despite her contempt for the
clerical hierarchy, O'Connor maintained she was a Catholic and devoutly
spiritual.
Changes and
Challenges
Aside
from the release of her 1997 single, Gospel Oak, O'Connor's recording
career faltered in the late 1990s, eclipsed by the turmoil in the singer's
private life. In 1995, an extended custody battle began between O'Connor and
her ex-lover, Irish journalist John Waters, over their infant daughter, Roisin.
Plagued by Waters' bitter accusations that she was an unfit mother, O'Connor
attempted suicide in March 1999. While recovering, O'Connor agreed to let
Roisin live with Waters in Dublin. A few days later, however, she snatched the
girl from Waters' home and flew with her back to London. (In addition to
Roisin, O'Connor has a son, Jake, with her first husband John Reynolds.)
Less than
a month later, O'Connor made headlines in an altogether different way-in April
1999, she was ordained as the first-ever priestess of the Latin Tridentine
Church, a dissident Catholic group led by a self-styled Roman Catholic bishop
from Ireland named Michael Cox. In April 2000, Mother Bernadette Marie
(O'Connor's clerical name) was elevated to Archdeacon for her work with Dublin's
homeless.
In 2000,
O'Connor signed with Atlantic Records. Her first album in six years, Faith
& Courage, was released later that year. Her personal life made
headlines the following year. After a whirlwind romance, O'Connor married
the British journalist Nick Sommerlad in a secret ceremony in the summer of
2001. But this union did not last. The pair soon split up. She went on to
release an album of traditional Irish music, Sean-Nós Nua, in
2002.
O'Connor
announced that she was retiring from music in 2003. She Who Dwells in the
Secret Place of the Most High Shall Abide Under the Shadow of the Almighty
(2003) was supposed to be her last album. According to People magazine,
O'Connor posted this message on her website: "I am a very shy person,
believe it or not. So I ask with love, that I be left in peace and privacy by
people who love my records too." She welcomed a third child, a son named
Shane, with musician Donal Lunny around this time.
In Recent
Years
O'Connor
did not retire from the music scene for long. In 2005, she released the
reggae-influenced Throw Down Your Arms.
O'Connor continued to produce
new music with 2007's Theology and add to her family. She gave birth to
her fourth child, Yeshua Bonadio, that same year. Yeshua's father is Frank
Bonadio.
In 2010,
O'Connor once again tried for wedded bliss. She married friend and frequent
collaborator Steve Cooney that year, but the union didn't last. The pair called
it quits the following spring. Undeterred from finding her happily ever after,
O'Connor married for the fourth time in December 2011. She and Barry Herridge
tied the knot in Las Vegas, but she announced that the marriage was over after
only 18 days.
Despite
her rocky personal life, O'Connor earned strong reviews for her 2012 effort How
About I Be Me (And You Be You)?. Her next record, I'm Not Bossy, I'm the
Boss (2014), also received a warm reception. O'Connor also continues to
perform in concert with several dates scheduled around the world in 2015.
Clancy's comment: Mm ... Singers, poets and writers have always used their craft to send a message in one way or another. Wow, married four times!
I'm ...
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