Singer Sinéad O’Connor, who's career breakthrough came when she covered Prince's Nothing Compares 2 U has died. She was 56.
As of this report her cause of death is unknown, but British police revealed to Variety they are not treating her death as suspicious. The singer was found “unresponsive” at her home in London just after 11 a.m. on Wednesday and pronounced dead at the scene. Police said a file is being prepared for the coroner.
Here's what her family had to say in a statement: “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinéad. Her family and friends are devastated and have requested privacy at this very difficult time.”
The outspoken singer has been open about her battle with mental illness, and wrote on her Facebook page earlier this month that she had moved back to London after 23 years and was working on new music to be released in 2024. She was also planning to tour Australia and New Zealand in 2024, and in Europe, the United States and other territories in 2025.
Speaking of music, the singer revealed what she told her kids to do if she ever ended up dead.
“I’ve always instructed my children since they were very small, ‘If your mother drops dead tomorrow before you called 911, call my accountant and make sure the record companies don’t start releasing my records and not telling you where the money is,'” O’Connor told People magazine in a 2021 interview.
The “Heroine” educated her children on the importance of protecting her music and assets, their inheritance, so they could avoid being taken advantage of.
“When the artists are dead, they’re much more valuable than when they’re alive,” O’Connor said of musicians’ profitability. “Tupac has released way more albums since he died than he ever did alive, so it’s kind of gross what record companies do.”
Celebrities such as Ice T, Morrissey, Michael Stipe and Cyndi Lauper shared their condolensces on social media, but the post that really moved me was from actress Charisma Carpenter, who shared a story about Sinéad performing a tribute to Bob Dylan at Madison Square Garden a week after she faced backlash for ripping up the Pope's photo on Saturday Night Live.
P!nk and Brandi Carlisle, who's currently on tour together paid tribute to the singer, and before their performance, P!nk shared a story about how she would either sing Whitney Houston’s “Greatest Love of All” or O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” on her recorded tapes as a young girl.
“When I was a little girl, my mom grew up in Atlantic City and I used to go down to the Ocean City Boardwalk with my $10 and I would make a demo tape,” shared P!nk. “I would make a little cassette tape and imagine it was my demo for the record company.”
At the end of their performance, she added “You never know what people are going through. It’s not that hard to give people a smile. We’re all learning that lesson together now.”
I absolutely loved Sinéad, because she was never afraid to go against the establishment, and in her infamous SNL words, "fight the real enemy."
Check out P!nk and Brandi Carlisle's tribute to Sinéad below...