Sinéad O'Connor

Irish singer, songwriter and guitarist, whose debut studio album, The Lion and the Cobra, was released in 1987 and charted internationally. Her second studio album, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got (1990), received glowing reviews upon release and became her biggest success, selling over seven million copies worldwide. Its lead single, "Nothing Compares 2 U", was named the number one world single in 1990 by the Billboard Music Awards.

She released ten studio albums. Her work included songs for films, collaborations with many other artists, and appearances at charity fundraising concerts. Her 2021 memoir Rememberings was a bestseller.

Throughout her music career she was honest about her spiritual journey, activism, socio-political views, as well as her trauma and mental health struggles.

In 1999, she was ordained as a priest by the Latin Tridentine Church, a sect that is not recognised by the mainstream Catholic Church. She consistently spoke out on issues related to child abuse, human rights, anti-racism, organised religion, and women's rights. In 2017, O'Connor changed her name to Magda Davitt. After converting to Islam in 2018, she changed it to Shuhada' Sadaqat. However, she continued to record and perform under her birth name.

In a 2000 interview in Curve magazine, O'Connor said that she was a lesbian. She retracted the statement, and in 2005 told Entertainment Weekly "I’m three-quarters heterosexual, a quarter gay".

O'Connor had four children and was married and divorced four times. On 7 January 2022, two days after her 17-year-old son Shane was reported missing from Newbridge, County Kildare, he died by suicide.

Sinéad O'Connor was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, complex post-traumatic stress disorder, borderline personality disorder and agoraphobia. She made several suicide attempts. O'connor was found dead in her London flat on 26 July 2023 at the age of 56.