Sinead O'Connor

Sinead O’Connor was born to a turbulent family in the Irish capital, Dublin, on December 8, 1966. The divorce of her parents left a forever mark on the little girl’s life. She was fast expelled from a Catholic school and soon directed to the reformatory institution for an attempted shoplifting. Throughout this tough period, the only place for Sinead to escape was music. Accidentally, she sang a song on a wedding party of one of her relatives attended by the drummer of a famous Irish band called In Tua Nua. The man was deeply impressed by the girl’s singing and recruited her as the group’s song writer and singer. Having studied at the Dublin College of Music, O’Connor relocated to London to start the recording session for her debut album. Called The Lion And The Cobra, it became available in 1987. The record earned praiseful responses while its song Mandinka became a long time hit on the alternative radio stations.

O’Connor rose to international recognition after the 1990 release of her sophomore album, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got. The record was promoted greatly by the preliminary issued single Nothing Compares 2 U, a cover of the Prince’s song that topped the national charts. The same achievement was made by the later released full-length album. A newly established mega star, Sinead revealed her controversial nature to the wide social masses. First of all, she told the press about her support for the IRA terrorist organization and her dislike for the countrymen U2. Moreover, the singer stated multiple refusals to appear on popular TV projects, and, finally, in 1991, she denied her four nominations for Grammy. A year later, O’Connor entered the market once again with the brand new Am I Not Your Girl? The record proved a top quality product, yet the public overlooked it paying much more attention to the singer’s another outrageous act. Attending the Saturday Night Live show, in front of the millions of the viewers, Sinead tore up a picture of the Pope John Paul II. This time, the consequences went really hard on her as the artist was booed on the stage of the tribute concert to Bob Dylan’s honor.

After that incident, Sinead went back to Dublin to study theatrical skills and even played Ophelia in Hamlet. In 1994, the singer restored her music career and issued a nice long player under the title Universal Mother. The work received good replies from critics, but failed to become a good seller. Within few following years, O’Connor almost forsook music to pay much attention to raising her second child and studying priesthood. She resurfaced on the stage in 1997 with Gospel Oak. The album was greeted warmly and Sinead seemed to have parted with her bad reputation totally. In 1999, O’Connor got ordained. Next year, she released another studio album, Faith & Courage, to be soon followed by a compilation of Irish folk songs, titled Sean-Nós Nua. The singer looked full of energy and ideas to keep recording as steadily as before, but in April 2003, Sinead admitted to being tired of a celebrity life and announced her plans to finish her music career. However, this appeared too hard a task for her to complete. In 2005, O’Connor made another comeback to the music industry. Since then, she has released three more strong and interesting albums. The last one of them, Theology, was issued in 2007. The day when the current vacation taken by this outstanding singer will be over remains a mystery to everyone.