Sinéad O’Connor, the Irish singer whose arresting voice, style, and outspokenness carried her to fame in the 1990s, has died at 56. Her family confirmed her death in a statement to the Irish Times, saying they were “devastated.†O’Connor sang from a young age, forming the band Ton Ton Macoute in her teens, which led to her eventual solo career. She found acclaim when she released her debut album, The Lion and the Cobra, at age 20 in 1987. But her following album, 1990’s I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, made O’Connor a star — specifically, her evocative cover of “Nothing Compares 2 U,†a song Prince originally wrote in 1985 for his side project, the Family. O’Connor’s recording became a No. 1 hit in the U.S. and carried that album to the same heights; “Nothing†has since been regarded as one of the best No. 1 songs of all time. On the heels of her third album, Am I Not Your Girl, in October 1992, O’Connor performed on Saturday Night Live, where she tore a photo of Pope John Paul II in protest of the sexual abuse of minors in the Catholic Church. She has defended the act despite the widespread criticism that followed, including from stars like Madonna.
O’Connor released ten albums total, most recently I’m Not Bossy, I’m the Boss in 2014. Her legacy had been positively reappraised in recent years thanks to her 2021 memoir, Rememberings, and a 2022 documentary, Nothing Compares. O’Connor said she planned to release a final album, No Veterans Die Alone, but later postponed the project after her son’s death at 17 in January 2022. Earlier this year, the Irish broadcaster RTÉ recognized O’Connor with the inaugural award for Irish Classic Album, for I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got.