- Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor has reportedly died.
- She was 56 years old.
Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor has died, according to multiple reports.
She was 56 years old.
The Daily Mail reported that O'Connor passed on Tuesday night, but no other details about her death have been revealed.
"It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinéad. Her family and friends are devastated and have requested privacy at this very difficult time," a statement from the family shared with RTE said.
O'Connor released her debut album, "The Lion and the Cobra," in 1987 to moderate acclaim. But she soon became a household name with her 1990 cover of Prince's "Nothing Compares 2 U," a single from her second LP, "I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got."
The ballad became a worldwide hit and shot to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. To this day, it's considered to be O'Connor's trademark song.
O'Connor went on to release 10 studio albums — concluding with "I'm Not Bossy, I'm the Boss" in 2014 — and received eight Grammy nominations throughout her life. She won best alternative music performance at the 1991 ceremony.
In a defining career moment, O'Connor tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II during a live performance on "SNL" in 1992, as a means of protesting abuse in the Catholic Church.
The stunt sparked intense criticism at the time, including an alleged attack with a "load of eggs" as she was leaving 30 Rock, O'Connor recalled in her 2021 memoir "Rememberings." Her career also suffered a downturn due to the backlash.
However, O'Connor later said she didn't regret doing it. Instead, she wrote in her memoir that it made her feel more free.
"The media was making me out to be crazy because I wasn't acting like a pop star was supposed to act," she told the New York Times just two years ago. "It seems to me that being a pop star is almost like being in a type of prison. You have to be a good girl."
She also described the aftermath as "traumatizing" because she was portrayed as a "crazy bitch."
"Not because I was famous or anything, but because I was a human being, I had a right to put my hand up and say what I felt," O'Connor told the Times.
In the years since, many have concluded that O'Connor was treated too harshly, her actions vindicated by new information.
Nearly a decade after her public protest, Pope John Paul II acknowledged systemic abuse in the church and apologized for the "great suffering and spiritual harm" it has caused. A 2020 investigation shed even more light on the corruption and the pope's lack of accountability.
O'Connor officially retired from recording music and touring in 2021. She announced in a series of tweets that it was time "to hang up my nipple tassels."
"It's not sad news. It's staggeringly beautiful news," she wrote. "A wise warrior knows when he or she should retreat."
However, she later retracted the retirement and pledged to honor the shows she had booked through 2022.
In a statement posted on Twitter, she said her initial announcement was "a knee-jerk reaction" to a negative review of her memoir, which triggered memories of "the barbaric physical and sexual abuse I grew up with."
"Anyway, the dude abides," she wrote. "I am not gonna retire, I'm gonna keep being fabulous."
Her final album, "No Veteran Dies Alone," was also slated for release in 2022. But it was indefinitely postponed after her son, Shane, died by suicide last year.
O'Connor is survived by her other three children.
Representatives for O'Connor did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.