RIP Sinead O’Connor musician mother warrior legend 💔💔💔
226Sinéad O'Connor
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For the fictional character from Hollyoaks, see Sinead O'Connor (Hollyoaks).
Shuhada' Sadaqat[6][a] (previously Magda Davitt; born Sinéad[b] Marie Bernadette O'Connor, 8 December 1966)[1][8] is an Irish singer and musician. Her debut album, The Lion and the Cobra, was released in 1987 and charted internationally. Her second album, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got received glowing reviews upon release and became her biggest success, selling over seven million copies worldwide.[9] Its lead single, "Nothing Compares 2 U" (written by Prince), was named the number one world single in 1990 by the Billboard Music Awards.[10]
Sinéad O'Connor
O'Connor performing at the Cambridge Folk Festival in 2014
O'Connor performing at the Cambridge Folk Festival in 2014
Background information
Birth name
Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor
Also known as
Magda Davitt
Shuhada Sadaqat[1]
Born
8 December 1966 (age 56)
Dublin, Ireland
Genres
Alternative rock pop rock folk rock
Occupation(s)
Singer musician songwriter
Instrument(s)
Vocals guitar
Years active
1986–present
Labels
Ensign Chrysalis Records Vanguard Chocolate and Vanilla One Little Indian Records Nettwerk
Spouse(s)
John Reynolds (1989–1991)
Nick Sommerlad (2001–2002)
Steve Cooney (2010–2011)[2]
Barry Herridge (2011–2011)[3]
Partner(s)
Peter Gabriel (1992–1993)[4]
Richard Heslop (1994–1995)
John Waters (1995–1996)
Dónal Lunny (2004)
Frank Bonadio (2006–2007)[5]
Website
sineadoconnor.com
She has released ten studio albums: 1992's Am I Not Your Girl? and 1994's Universal Mother both went gold in the UK,[11] 2000's Faith and Courage received gold status in Australia,[12] and 2005's Throw Down Your Arms went gold in Ireland.[13] Her work also includes songs for films, collaborations with many other artists, and appearances at charity fundraising concerts. Her 2021 memoir Rememberings was a best seller.[14]
Throughout her music career she has been unabashedly 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 recognized by the mainstream Catholic Church.[15] She consistently speaks 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.[1][6][16] However, she continues to record and perform under her birth name.[8]
Early life
O'Connor was born in the Cascia House Nursing Home at 13 Pembroke Road, Dublin, on 8 December 1966. She was named Sinéad after Sinéad de Valera, the mother of the doctor presiding over the delivery, Eamonn de Valera, and Bernadette in honour of Saint Bernadette of Lourdes.[17][18] She is the third of five children; her siblings are novelist Joseph, Eimear, John, and Eoin.
Her parents are John Oliver "Seán" O'Connor, a structural engineer later turned barrister and chairperson of the Divorce Action Group, and Johanna Marie O'Grady (1939-1985) who married in the Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel, Drimnagh, Dublin in 1960. In 1979, O'Connor left her mother and went to live with her father, who had married Viola Margaret Suiter (née Cook) in Alexandria, Virginia, United States three years prior in 1976.[19] At the age of 15, her shoplifting and truancy led to her being placed for eighteen months in a Magdalene asylum called the Grianán Training Centre run by the Order of Our Lady of Charity.[20] In some ways, she thrived there, especially in the development of her writing and music, but she also chafed under the imposed conformity. Unruly students there were sometimes sent to sleep in the adjoining nursing home, an experience of which she later commented, "I have never—and probably will never—experience such panic and terror and agony over anything."[21]
O'Connor's mother Marie died in a car accident on 10 February 1985 aged 45 as she lost control of her car on an icy road and crashed into a bus, when O'Connor was eighteen.[22][23]
In June 1993, O'Connor wrote a public letter in The Irish Times which asked people to "stop hurting" her: "If only I can fight off the voices of my parents / and gather a sense of self-esteem / Then I'll be able to REALLY sing ..." The letter repeated accusations of abuse by her parents as a child which O'Connor had made in interviews. Her brother Joseph defended their father to the newspaper but agreed regarding their mother's "extreme and violent abuse, both emotional and physical". O'Connor said that month, "Our family is very messed up. We can't communicate with each other. We are all in agony. I for one am in agony."[24]
Musical career
1980s
One of the volunteers at Grianán was the sister of Paul Byrne, drummer for the band In Tua Nua, who heard O'Connor singing "Evergreen"