Shuhada' Sadaqat Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor
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10
Awards
Sinéad O’Connor, born December 8, 1966 in Glenageary, Ireland, rose to fame with her 1990 cover of Prince’s Nothing Compares 2 U, which earned a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance. She sparked international controversy in October 1992 by tearing up a photo of Pope John Paul II on Saturday Night Live. O’Connor died on July 26, 2023 in London from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and bronchial asthma at age 56.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Sinéad O'Connor — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Sinéad O'Connor by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Sinéad O'Connor — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Sinéad O’Connor was born on December 8, 1966 in Glenageary, Ireland, to Seán O’Connor and Marie O’Grady. Her mother Marie died in a car crash when Sinéad was 18. She was incarcerated in a Magdalene Asylum during her teens for shoplifting. She attended Newtown School in Waterford.
O’Connor’s breakthrough came in 1990 with her album I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, featuring the chart-topping single Nothing Compares 2 U, written by Prince. The song earned her a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance, which she refused. Her political activism, including tearing up a photo of Pope John Paul II on Saturday Night Live on October 3, 1992, defined her public image. She also acted in films such as In the Name of the Father 1993 and Albert Nobbs 2011. After retiring in 2003 due to fibromyalgia, she returned in 2005.
O’Connor married John Reynolds in 1987 divorced 1991, with whom she had son Jake Reynolds. She had daughter Roisin Waters with Irish journalist John Waters in 1996, leading to a custody battle. She later married Nicholas Sommerlad 2001-2004, Steve Cooney 2010-2011, and Barry Herridge 2011, annulled same year. Her son Shane O’Connor Lunny from her relationship with Donal Lunny died by suicide in January 2022 at age 17. O’Connor converted to Islam in 2018 and adopted the name Shuhada’ Davitt.
O’Connor’s defiance against the Catholic Church and her open struggles with mental health influenced artists like Miley Cyrus, whose 2013 Wrecking Ball was inspired by Nothing Compares 2 U. VH1 ranked her #35 on its 100 Greatest Women of Rock N Roll. Her memoir Rememberings 2021 was praised by critics. She is remembered for her powerful voice and her refusal to stay silent.
The complete filmography of Sinéad O'Connor — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by Sinéad O'Connor — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
A wall of memorable lines from Sinéad O'Connor — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
As Far as I’m Concerned, I’m Now in the Business of Making Spiritual Records and Using My Voice for That Purpose. I’m Not Going to Be Singing Songs That I Made in the Past. I Closed the Door on That Incarnation of Sinead O’Connor.
When You Live with the Devil You Learn There’s a God Very Quickly.
I Don’t Do Anything in Order to Cause Trouble. It Just so Happens That What I Do Naturally Causes Trouble. I’m Proud to Be a Troublemaker.
The Power of Rock’n’roll to Change Things, to Move People, Is Being Murdered by All This Worship of Fame Pop Idol, XFactor, All This Stuff. What I’m Worried About Is It’s All About the Visual, the Pyrotechnics, the Tits Out, Shake Your Ass. It’s Not About the Song. That to Me Is Quite Sad.
A Writer Is the Perfect Boyfriend, They Have Lots of Time to Snuggle and a Desk to Bend You Over.
All What We Know as Rock and Pop Music Came from Blues When You Trace It Back, It’s History Came from Blues and in Its Time Blues Was Pretty Much Like Rap in so Far as It Had the Same Format Which Meant Anybody Could Write a Song. It Wasn’t Too Complicated, It Was 12 Bars, You Had Three Verses, the First Three Lines Were the Same, the Last Line Was Different, You Had a Bridge.
I Am Proud to Have Become a Muslim. This Is the Natural Conclusion of Any Intelligent Theologian’s Journey. All Scripture Study Leads to Islam. Which Makes All Other Scriptures Redundant.
Little-known facts about Sinéad O'Connor — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
Following her controversial Saturday Night Live performance in 1992, Sinéad O’Connor appeared at a benefit concert with Kris Kristofferson. When the crowd responded with booing and cheering, she scrapped her scheduled song, stopped the keyboardist, and sang War again, then broke down crying in Kristofferson’s arms.
During her teens, she was incarcerated in one of the notorious Magdalene Asylums for shoplifting.
In 1990 she made news when she announced she would refuse to go onstage at the Garden State Arts Center in New Jersey if The Star Spangled Banner was performed. The venue heeded her demand, and she was later informed she would no longer be invited to perform there.
Her mother Marie died in a car crash when Sinéad was just 18 years old.
When she won a Grammy in the Best Alternative Music Performance category for I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got 1990, she refused to accept it, making her the first recording artist to rebuff N.A.R.A.S.
On October 3, 1992, she caused a huge international stir when she tore up a photograph of Pope John Paul II, live on Saturday Night Live, while shouting Fight the REAL enemy! after singing an a capella version of Bob Marley’s War. NBC received over a thousand phone calls with complaints and banned her from the show permanently.
She had a bitter three-year battle with ex-boyfriend Irish journalist John Waters for full custody rights of their daughter Roisin. She turned over the baby to her father just four days after she attempted suicide by swallowing 20 Valium tablets in 1999.
In 2003, she announced she had fibromyalgia, an illness known for causing incredible fatigue, which was a factor in her retirement from music.
She once worked as a Kiss-O-Gram girl in Dublin.
In February 2023, she shared a new version of The Skye Boat Song, a 19th century Scottish adaptation of a 1782 Gaelic song, which is also the theme for the fantasy drama series Outlander.
She retired from music in 2003 to raise her three children, but announced in February 2005 her return to the business.
In October 2018, she announced her conversion to Islam and her name as Shuhada’ Davitt.
She re-established herself as a prominent musician by releasing Séan-Nos Nua, an album of traditional Irish folk tunes, as well as new music.
She was chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world.
She won the 1991 Brit Award for International Female.
Her son Shane Nevim Nesta Ali Shane O’Connor, from her relationship with Irish folk musician Donal Lunny, committed suicide on January 7, 2022, at age 17.
She was ranked #35 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Women of Rock N Roll.
O’Connor’s memoir Rememberings, published in June 2021, was described by Neil McCormick in The Daily Telegraph as a brave, wry new memoir with humour and perspective, and by The Guardian as full of heart, humour and remarkable generosity.
She was ordained as a Latin Tridentine Church priest by a rebel bishop; her adopted religious name was Mother Bernadette Mary.
She had daughter Brigidine Róisíne Waters born March 10, 1996, from her relationship with Irish columnist John Waters.
Her fourth child, first with partner Frank Bonadio, was born on Christmas Eve 2006.
In a 2000 interview in Curve, O’Connor said she was a lesbian but later retracted, stating in 2005 to Entertainment Weekly that she was three-quarters heterosexual, a quarter gay.
She made a version of Wuthering Heights which, after a legal battle with the American producers of the 1939 version Paramount, had to be called Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights; any time they got it wrong there was a fine of $2,500.
Her 1990 cover of Prince’s Nothing Compares 2 U heavily influenced the Miley Cyrus 2013 hit Wrecking Ball.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Sinéad O'Connor.
Celebrities similar to Sinéad O'Connor — same craft, ranked by reach.
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