As well as being a fearless interpreter of others’ work, the late singer adapted to a seemingly endless array of styles, marking her out as a bold and utterly singular artist
Almost from the moment Sinéad O’Connor appeared in the mass public consciousness, she created controversy: her first release, a song called Heroine co-written with U2’s guitarist the Edge for the soundtrack to a largely forgotten 1986 film called Captive, was swiftly followed by the singer causing a furore by expressing her support for the IRA. Years later, she described her comments as “bollocks”, but further uproar would surround O’Connor on a regular basis: about her conversion to Islam (she called non-Muslims “disgusting”); about Prince, the author of her biggest hit, 1990’s Nothing Compares 2 U, whom she accused of physical abuse; and, most notably, about sexual abuse in the Catholic church, a subject which she took up long before it became a mainstream talking point.
Her 1992 performance on Saturday Night Live, during which she ripped up a photo of the pope, was described by the New York Daily News as a “holy terror”, and attracted the opprobrium of everyone from Madonna to Joe Pesci. Pesci threatened her with violent retribution on the same show the following week – incredibly, the audience applauded him. The furore permanently derailed her career in the US, where her second album, I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, had sold 2m copies and topped the charts.
