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Life
| 1966- ; b. 8 Dec. 1966, Glenageary, Co. Dublin; dg. of engineer turned barrister; left her mother to live with his father and his second wife, 1979; sent to Grianán Training Centre (aka Magdalene Asylum) run by the Sisters of Charity, 1981, aetat. 15; recorded song with volunteer teacher and band-member Paul Byrne, of “In Tua Nua” [group]; moved to Newtown School, Waterford, and encouraged to record a demo album by the Irish teacher Joseph Falvey; formed “Tonton Macoute” with Columb Farrelly, having places an ad. for associates in Hot Press, 1984; suffered the death of her mother in a car accident, Feb. 1985; moved to London; managed by Fachthna Ó Ceallaigh; |
| wrote “The Heroine” with The Edge of U2 fame; had a son, Jake, with session drummer John Reynolds, and married him, later separating on good terms; produced her own album with Ensign Records; following albums incl. The Lion and the Cobra (1990); appeared in Hush-a-Bye Baby (1990), a film directed by Margo Harkin; issued I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, incorporating the hit “Nothing Compares To You [2 U]”; winner of Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance; boycotted awards; participated in Berlin gig The Wall with Pink Floyd and others, and contrib. to Cole Porter tribute and AIDS fund-raising album, 1990; returned to Dublin, 1992; studied bel canto with Frank Merriman at the Parnell School of Music; appeared on Saturday Night Live, 3 Oct. 1992, and notoriously tore up a picture of the Pope John Paul II (Joe Pesci cellotaped it together again at the next broadcast); |
| contrib. "You Made Me the Thief of Your Heart" to soundtrack of In the Name of the Father (1993); issued Universal Mother (1994); dropped out of tour due to pregnancy; has a dg., Brigidine Róisíne (b.1996) with journalist John Watters, who embarked on campaign for father's rights after there separation; played role of Virgin Mary in Neil Jordan’s film of The Butcher Boy by Patrick MacCabe, 1997; described herself as lesbian in Curve magazine, 2000; ordained a priest by renegade Catholic Bishop Michael Cox of so-called Irish Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Church, styling herself Mother Bernadette Mary; attempted suicide on her birthday 2001 [aetat 33]; m. Nicholas Sommerlad, 2002; announced retirement from music in 2003; suffered from fibromyalgia; spent time in Jamaica, and learned to sing Rastafarian spirituals (i.e., reggae); had a son, Shane (b. March 2004) with Dónal Lunny; |
| appeared on The Late Late Show, Nov. 2004; criticised used of Shannon Airport for American trans-shipping to Iraq following Second Gulf War; had a son, Yeshua Francis Neil, with Frank Bonadio,a former partner, Dec. 2006; appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, 4 October 2007, and revealed that had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder; appeared at the Sugar Club, Dublin, Nov. 2008, and released live CD/DVD exclusively through her website; made European tours in 1008 and 2009; her personal distress arising from family life became a matter of public interest when she bought a full page of space in The Irish Times for an account of family abuse during childhood (especially alleging injuries by her mother) – circumstances denied by her brother Joseph O’Connor [q.v.]; |
| contrib. article on Catholic sex abuse scandal and her own time in a Magdalene laundry as a teenager, in Washington Post (Sun., 28 March 2010); m. Steve Cooney, 2010. |
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| Discography (chief titles) |
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| —See Wikipedia Sinead O’Connor page, online; acccessed 28.08.2010. Note that Wikipedia supplies a page of details on each album. |
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