A little over two months after Tina Turner passed away, another icon/idol in my younger years departed this realm. Sinead O'Connor died on July 26. I first took notice of her in my first year of college when I was reading a small article in Rolling Stone magazine and there was this picture of a bald-headed*1 woman with a gorgeous face. The article mentioned her name, how to pronounce it (Shi-NAYD), and that she collaborated with U2's The Edge for a movie song, and that she has an album coming out called The Lion and the Cobra. I was intrigued and I wondered how she sounded like..
*1 I have to share a story about a contrast on how I react towards bald people from my childhood to my teenage years. When I was a much younger kid, I had an irrational fear and/or aversion towards bald-headed people, and I can recall when my father decided to shave his head because he couldn't hide his balding head any longer that I screamed at the sight. The only exception towards this reaction was my maternal grandfather. As I previously mentioned in my Tina Turner essay, I was already experiencing heavy hair loss in my early teens so I was angst-ridden over the prospect that I'll be going bald, though I've began to be more accepting of bald people by then.
Late in my first year of college, I got to hear my first Sinead song as I watched a music video of "(I Want Your) Hands On Me", and I was intrigued by the utter quirkiness of it all. It's not something that most regular listeners would dig, but I liked it enoug tat when I scoured the record shops like Odyssey for new releases and found The Lion and the Cobra available, I didn't hesitate buying it on cassette. I turned out to be a wonderfully eclectic album, featuring conventional rock, classically tinged epics, funky avant-garde numbers (like the aforementioned "Hands on Me" track), and moody atmospheric ballads, all unified with that uniquely beautiful and haunting voice.
The press hyped three new female rock acts during 1987-88 as they showered them with critical acclaim, and this culminates with these three ladies performing at the 1989 Grammys. It's quite interesting on who received the most hype during that time and how their careers ended up in the long term. The press were enamored by the soulful stylings and social messages of Toni Childs and hence lavished the most praise to her--though it didn't really translate to Hot 100 success, as her single "Don't Walk Away" didn't hit Top 40 in the US and is not at all that popular in our shores that it took months before her album Union was made available in our shores--when it was finally available, I bought it and I loved it. It turned out her best market was Australia, as her album and its singles were hits there. Her follow-up records after Union faded in most countries and for most people Toni is just a musical footnote, though Australia continued to love her to bits and much later in life, Toni moved from her home in America to live in this country. The woman who garnered the relatively least accolades at that time was rocker Melissa Etheridge, who got buzz for her gritty rock song "Bring Me Some Water". Like Toni and Sinead, it got positive buzz but not enough to be mainstream hits. It took a few years later and her coming out as a lesbian to finally achieve mainstream success with hits like "I'm The Only One" and "Come to My Window" and of these three, she became the most successful commercially. Sinead fell squarely in between these two ladies in all aspects as she performed her single "Mandinka" at the Grammys. All three ladies were terrific in their Grammy performances so in a way were Grammy highlights for that year. All were nominated for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, and all of them lost to... Tina Turner for her Tina Live in Europe album..
Though Melissa Etheridge was able to amass huge record sales with a series of hits throughout her career through the 1990s and 2000s, she never had a moment of universal popularity and acclaim Sinead achieved when she released her single in 1990, "Nothing Compares 2 U", as this became a global No. 1 smash. I'll discuss more about this song at the end of this essay, but needless to say, this has whetted my appetite for her sophomore album, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got. I remember giddy with bated breath as I trooped to Landmark Department Store in Makati to witness the record launch and then purchased a cassette tape of the album. Though I was slightly taken aback at how spare the instrumental arrangements were for most of this album, and realize that they mostly sound nothing like you would hear on American radio, the songs were universally superb and indelible. I've highlighted four songs from the album in my countdown of favorites below, but I also highly recommend "Feel So Different" (the opening track that featured an intro based on the Serenity Prayer) and the poignant and empathetic "Black Boys on Mopeds", a folk ballad protesting the hypocrisy of the UK government in how they treated the black population plus below, her follow-up single to her mega-smash (and presumably the most radio-friendly as it had the fullest instrumentation) "Emperor's New Clothes".
Sinead was known to be very outspoken with strong political convictions, and that often attract controversy, like when she prevented a concert venue from playing the US national anthem in one of her gigs. But all those controversies did not cause as big a stir as her appearance on Saturday Night Live in early 1992, where she sang an a capella version of Bob Marley's 1976 single "War" with modified lyrics referencing child abuse and then showed a photo of Pope John Paul II and tore it, declaring "Fight the real enemy!". The American media almost unanimously declared her action appalling, and how galling was she to disrespect a beloved figure like The Pope. It was presumed Sinead sabotaged her own career because of this gesture. But as years wore on, and when revelations of abuse by Catholic priests in the US and the British isles came to light, Sinead's protest is now viewed as a prophetic gesture, expressing a suppressed truth way ahead of its time.
Though my very religious mother would disapprove, I still had a soft spot for Sinead even after that SNL brouhaha, so I still purchased her third album, Am I Not Your Girl. This was basically a covers album that I found very disappointing as Sinead sounded too unhinged and fragile in performing tbose covers. Still, I'll highlight her first single from that album, a jazz-orchestral cover of country artist Loretta Lynn's 1961 single "Success", which Sinead retitled as "Success Has Made A Failure of Our Home" (where Sinead repeatedly adlibbed a closing line that served as the title of the album). I was slightly hesitant to check out Sinead's 1994 album, Universal Mother until I saw the "Fire in Babylon" video and thought she seems back in her 1987 form, and decided to buy a cassette. I had no regrets are there are strong tracks in this collection, like the rap screed "Famine" (about the infamous Irish potato blight of the 1840s) and a rhythmic track that I include among my favorites below. I read about her releasing an EP in 1997 called Gospel Oak and that she grew out her shaven look and went for a conventional brunette bob, but that wasn't released in these shores. In 2000, I saw the music video for her launching single for her album Faith and Courage, "No Man's Woman" (another one of my favorites) and I liked the track. But somehow, perhaps because of my state of finances at the time or the fact it's not available on cheaper pirate CDs, I didn't get around to purchase that record. Still, it seems to be a solid effort, and I'll highlight the track "Jealous", below.
I didn't pay much attention with Sinead's subsequent releases after that and for most part, her music was overshadowed by the upheavals in her personal life, which was reported by the media for all to see.
- Tumultuous love and family life. Even from the beginning of her career, Sinead's love life was volatile. While recording her first album, she fell in love with her drummer, John Reynolds and gave birth to a son, Jake. They married after the birth of their son in 1989 and at the peak of her "Nothing Compares 2 U" fame I read about her marriage and family life on her Rolling Stone cover story, and it's far from peaceful domesticity. So the marriage didn't last long as by 1991 they divorced, even if she still continued to work with him musically over the years as Hohn became a renowned music producer. In 1995, Sinead had an affair with Irish journalist John Waters. (not to be confused with the campy creator/director of Pink Flamingos and Hairspray) and gave birth to Bridgette Roisin (the last part pronounced Ro-SHEEN), had a custody battle that resulted in Sinead yielding custody to the father. For 11 months between 2001 and 2002 she married British journalist Nick Sommerlad, though no children resulted from that union. She then had an affair with the musician Donal Lunny and gave birth to her third child, Shane, in 2004. In 2006, she and American producer Frank Bonadio, had Sinead's 4th child, Yeshua. Sinead married for a third time with Irish musician Steve Cooney from 2010-2011, and after her 2011 divorce, she went on a hunt for a mate on social media, with a litany of lists of what she wanted in a man. It seems from her social media search she found Irish therapist Barry Herridge, who she then married in a Vegas wedding and the marriage reportedly lasted only a few days, though in 2014 she tried to give it another try with the same guy but decided not to push through with it in the end. Do you get to follow all that?
- Ordination as a priest. In 1999, Sinead was ordained as a priest with the Latin Tridentine Church.. This came about as when Sinead appeared in a late night talk sow on Ireland's public station RTE, she mentioned that if she wasn't a muscian, she wanted to become a Catholic priest. Bishop Michael Cox of said Latin Tridentine Church, an offshoot from the Roman Catholic Church without official endorsement from the Church. Sinead assumed the name Mother Bernadette Mary. But after that ordination, nothing much happened and we don't hear much about Sinead's performing church duties as Mother Bernadette Mary. It felt like a publicity stunt in the end.
- Self-declaration as lesbian. In a 2000 interview, Sinead declared she's lesbian. When I read that I was in disbelief as I was aware of her long history with men (see love life above), that maybe she's just tired of the blokes for a little while because of her volatile relationships with them. Soon enough, she retracted that statement and in 2005 corrected herself by saying she's 3/4 straight and 1/4 gay.
- Health issues. Sinead's outbursts make many wonder if there was an underlying mental health condition behind that. She did declare on Oprah's show in 2007 that she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, but seven years later it was declared that was a wrong diagnosis and she was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and borderline personality disorder. On top of her mental health issues, she had fibromyalgia in the early 2000s, which led her to take a career hiatus between 2003 to 2005, and had a hysterectomy in 2015 because of gynecological issues, which Sinead complained that the doctors did not recommend hormone replacement therapy for her because she noticed lacking that therapy exacerbated her suicidal tendencies. Her battles with her mental health may have been the cause why she lost custody of daughter Roisin and son Shane over the years, the latter of which was particularly traumatic to her as she seemed to have a deep bond with him.
- Breakdown and Dr. Phil. Her loss of custody over her son Shane in 2013 devastated Sinead so much that in 2015 she posted a video on Facebook distraught and expressing suicidal thoughts. She then was reported as a missing person, but she was soon found safe and she went into therapy. This was then followed by an epic interview wih Dr. Phil, which Sinead claimed she did to destigmatize people suffering from mental health issues.
- Conversion to Islam. In 2018, Sinead took another left turn as the long-Christian-oriented singer decided to convert to Islam and sport a hijab, and taking the name of Shuhada Sadaqat. She claimed this conversion was "the natural conclusion of any intelligent theological journey." Of course I beg to differ, but well, if this was the path that she chose, then so be it.
Sinead went into interesting musical directions through the decade of the 2000s She did an album of traditional Irish songs with Sean-Nos Nua (translated as "New Old Style") in 2002, then did a full-on reggae covers album Throw Down Your Arms in 2005 after her aforementioned hiatus from fibromyalgia, and released the double-yet-single-album*2 Theology in 2007, In the 2010s, she came out with two well-received albums that seem to hearken a return to peak form with How About I Be Me (And You Be You) in 2012 and I'm Not Bossy, I'm the Boss in 2014. I was hoping for the best for Sinead with these releases, but well, the instability returned soon afterward.
*2 The two discs actually feature the same 10 songs--the difference is that the first disc was an acoustic set recorded in Dublin and the second disc was a fully-orchestrated set recorded in London. Each disc featured a differing 11th track--an Irish folk song on the Dublin sessions and for the London sessions, a cover of the Andrew Lloyd Webber / Tim Rice ballad from Jesus Christ Superstar, "I Don't Know How to Love Him".
In 2021, Sinead released her autobiography Rememberings. Based on the buzz, this is where Sinead lade bare the abuses inflicted on her by her mother when she was a child, and those abuses were indeed very galling that you understand why Sinead turned out the way she did.
Tragedy struck Sinead on January 7, 2022 (my 52nd birthday) as her third son, Shane was found dead from suicide. It was undoubtedly devastating to her that even if she tried to overcome this by moving to London and record a new album (which she had previously declared would be her final album) Shane's death still loomed large in her psyche. So when she passed away 18 months later, though we don't have the official autopsy results yet, it could be said she died of a broken heart. We don't know if her final album could be released posthumously, but her last released recording while she was living was a version of the traditional hymn "The Skye Boat Song",. which is best known as the opening theme song to the TV series Outlander, and indeed her recording was used as the theme song for the 7th season of this series.
Now, I'd like to share to you my favorite Sinead tracks:
12. "4th and Vine" (2013). This was a breezy, engaging ditty, one of the rare joyful songs Sinead has sung. On the surface it's basically about a bride looking forward to her wedding, but Sinead always has this gravitas that plumbs some dark undercurrents underneath the apparent joy.
11. "Take Me to Church" (2014). Not to be confused with Hozier's 2013 smash hit single and modern classic of the same name. this song is a rousing rocker with a music video where Sinead tries to exorcise her fame from her "Nothing Compares 2 U" video to skewering expected feminine images by wearing a long wig and a miniskirt (I would've preferred to see Sinead sporting the exact look she had on her album cover, but she seemed to opt for a slightly different look with longer hair) to taking her wig off to finally be herself. I think this was about the time she declared she would no longer sing her mega-hit single in concert anymore as she "couldn't connect to the song". It didn't quite take hold as there were performances of her mega-smash in later years.
10. "You Made Me The Thief of Your Heart" (1993). This is from the Daniel Day-Lewis film In the Name of the Father, based on a real-life story of the Guildford Four, four people falsely imprisoned for a bombing in a Northern Irish pub that killed some British officers and a civilian. Sinead delivered a passionate performance with this accessible ditty. If it weren't for the controversis she brought, this could've probably made more serious inroads in the charts.
9. "No Man's Woman" (2000). I like how jaunty this song sounds, how it can be read as an empowerment anthem about not letting society's norms be a chain that binds you and put you down. The music video featuring Sinead as a runaway bride who with the help of a spiritual Rastafarian man, gets reborn into a guitar-wielding rocker, is a great watch.
8. "Thank You for Hearing Me" (1994). This electro-pop number may sound irritatingly repetitive for some listeners, but for me this sounds hypnotic and almost lulling, and even if it's mostly a song about gratitude, there is a punchline that it's about a breakup, as the last verse talks about "Thank you for breaking my heart..." As usual, Sinead's delicate-to-passionate delivery slays.
7. "Mandinka" (1987). Sinead made a huge splash with rock aficionados with this hard rocking number from her debut album. Even as early as this stage in her career, Sinead took to an affinity with oppressed people, as the song's title refers to an African people group who endured the slave trade--especially as referenced in Alex Huxley's famous 1976 novel, Roots.
6. "Troy" (1987),. This riveting classical-tinged epic song was Sinead's first single, and it's an uncompromising tune about confronting someone toxic in your life. Most listeners could read it as about a lover, but this tune was actually about Sinead's late mother (who died in a car accident when she was 18). What you get when listening to this song is catharsis, especially when Sinead howls the line "Phoenix from a flame!" and "I will rise!" It could be said that if there is a single song that would epitomize Sinead O'Connor's entire output in a nutshell, this song would be it.
5. "Three Babies" (1990). This folk-ish ballad was actually about three miscarriages she had experienced up to that point. She also had an abortion in 1989, but that was dedicated to a non-album single she released the following year, "My Special Child". Basically this song was about her wanting to treat those "lost" children as important as the children she did deliver to term (at this point it was only her son, Jake). Hence, it's actually very heartbreaking.
4. "Sacrifice" (1991). Sinead recorded a whole slew of cover songs and they span a wide range of genres, from country, to reggae, to traditional Irish folk music, to Christmas carols, to Broadway, and even ABBA songs like "Chiquitita". But besides her mega-smash, my favorite Sinead pop cover is this hauntingly sparse take on Elton John's 1990 hit, "Sacrifice". I find this utterly beautiful and sublime.
3. "I Am Stretched On Your Grave" (1990). It takes chutzpah to add a sample of James Brown's "Funky Drummer" to a traditional Irish folk song, but Sinead did it and it worked wonders. It's about a grief so profound that the mourner doesn't want to leave the grave and might rather want to join the dead. When she initially recorded this, she had her late mother on her mind, but I think this song resonated in her final days with the suicide of her son Shane. Makes this even more haunting and eerily resonant than it already is.
2. "The Last Day of Our Acquaintance" (1990). For me, this is the quintessential breakup song. I'm sure so many people had or would resonate with this song as the lyrics were pretty simple and straightforward but still packs all the feels, even if Sinead tries to put on a defiant bravado with her "ho-ho-ho" at the song's climax, you know that the singer was still in intense pain even until the very end.
1. "Nothing Compares 2 U" (1990). This is the song most of the ordinary public will associate Sinead with, and it's actually a cover--it was written by Prince for one of his short-lived protégé bands, The Family (which featured his then-girlfriend Susannah Melvoin*3 though the one singing lead on their recording was the male frontman St. Paul). Sinead had great judgment to strip down the arrangement to strings and a smattering of drumbeats as it made this song of loss and heartbreak even more devastating, making this an indelible masterpiece. Hence, for many people Sinead's version is the quintessential version of this song, even if Prince has repeatedly attempted to reclaim it back as his.*4 I agree with that assessment, even if die-hard Prince fans would disagree. Indeed, for several years, I consider this song my favorite song of all time. But I do understand why over the years Sinead has increasingly tried to distance herself from this song, as her artistry was way more than this indelible hit.
*3 Twin sister of guitarist Wendy from Prince's band the Revolution. The Melvoin family seems to be a renowned musical family as they had a brother, Jonathan, who became touring keyboardist for the Smashing Pumpkins and unfortunately overdosed while on tour with them.
*4 Sinead had a distressing encounter with Prince, as Prince once summoned her to his compound to berate her for her conduct, especially with Sinead's knack for spewing out expletives. Sinead fought back and Prince attempted to hit her with a hard object inside a pillowcase. Sinead reportedly escaped the compound and reported Prince continued stalking her when she was outside.
There might be some people who would dismiss Sinead as a flaky one-hit wonder with a tumultuous personal life. But the depth and breadth of her artistry is such that no one should dismiss her as such. Yes, it's a sad and turbulent life for most part, but this lady touched a lot of hearts with her unflinching openness, even if sometimes you disagree with the directions she would take or the views she would express. She will always have a big space in my heart. My final parting note is to quote a 1975 Pink Floyd track, "Shine On You Crazy Diamond".
JUST ME!
JOSEPH
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