The music world was shocked this week to learn of the death of one of the more polarizing figures in the industry since the 1990s.
Irish-born Sinead O’Connor passed away at the age of only 56, reported Forbes.
If I am being honest, her death is not exactly a shock when you look at how lost she has been since her son Shane died last year.
She’s Gone
I can still remember when her cover of “Nothing Compare 2 U” came out in 1990. I was absolutely stunned with how beautiful her voice was.
Of course, I was a bit biased because she was from Ireland, but I was hardly alone in recognizing that a superstar was in the making.
Having said that, it became quite clear very early in her career that she put enormous weight on her shoulders to be someone that would change the world.
She was very outspoken politically, and, of course, she was on the opposite side of the spectrum from me. And while I still enjoyed some of her songs, I eventually just moved on because I don’t like my politics mixing with my music and sports.
O’Connor put everyone on alert in 1992 when she made a “Saturday Night Live” appearance and tore up a picture of Pope John Paul II, reported Ultimate Classic Rock.
She was protesting all of the abuse cases that were coming to light from the Catholic Church at the time.
That was the start of her making her songs more about protest than entertainment. She was trying to be, in essence, the female version of Arlo Guthrie or Bob Dylan.
In her autobiography, “Rememberings,” she wrote, “Everyone wants a pop star, see? But I am a protest singer. I just had stuff to get off my chest.”
Her son Shane died in 2022, and she went into a downward spiral, a spiral that she never really recovered from for her remaining days.
We can only hope that she now has the peace she was looking for in her life.
