Sinead was so utterly original - her voice, shaved head. I’ll never forget Nothing Compares to You - so ethereal. Equally stunning was her appearance on SNL and tearing up the picture of the Pope. It was so shocking - profound. I’ll never forget it. What courage! I hated the fallout - it was brutal. And look how right she was!
O’Connor has seen a little bit of herself in women who came after her — in Amy Winehouse and Britney Spears. “What they did to Britney Spears was disgusting,” she said. “If you met a stranger in the street crying, you’d put your arms around her. You wouldn’t start taking photos of her, you know?” It is not lost on O’Connor that the night Spears was roundly categorized as a crazy person, she shaved her hair off. “Why were they saying she’s crazy for shaving her head?” she said. “I’m not.”
A couple of years ago, the Irish producer David Holmes approached O’Connor, star-struck at an event, and asked if she’d make a record with him about healing. “She is just an incredibly complex individual and she should never be judged,” Holmes told me. “She doesn’t go out of her way to try and hurt anyone. She’s just Sinead, and she wears her heart on her sleeve.” Their seven-track album “No Veteran Dies Alone” is due out later this year.
O’Connor’s ethereal sound has acquired an appealingly raw undercurrent. When she sings, on the title track, “There are two mes, the one that you see/and the real me, who I’m not supposed to be,” her pull is undeniable. As Holmes put it: “She’s got that voice, it’s like a friend.”
O’Connor’s own friends describe her as a naturally loving person. “She’s a generous soul,” the Pogues singer Shane MacGowan told me over email. “She looked after me when I really needed it.” Said her longtime friend Kara Hanahoe, “I’ve just found that she can be relied upon, and I think that’s probably the most important thing.”
What a legend! Sinead O'Connor got big before my time. I was too young to appreciate her awesomeness. But I'm listening to Nothing Compares 2 U right now and loving it.
Sinead was so utterly original - her voice, shaved head. I’ll never forget Nothing Compares to You - so ethereal. Equally stunning was her appearance on SNL and tearing up the picture of the Pope. It was so shocking - profound. I’ll never forget it. What courage! I hated the fallout - it was brutal. And look how right she was!
Incredible Read!
What a legend! Sinead O'Connor got big before my time. I was too young to appreciate her awesomeness. But I'm listening to Nothing Compares 2 U right now and loving it.
Also, the part about Prince's craziness is fascinating, and jives perfectly with today's AOTD about female rage.
Decades late, but let's un-cancel Sinead!! 🎶🎼🎵