Sinéad O’Connor. Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images.
Irish singer-songwriter and outspoken activist Sinéad O’Connor has passed away, The Irish Times reports. Her official cause of death has yet to be revealed. She was 56 years old.
Over the course of a recording career that spanned nearly four decades, O’Connor released 10 studio LPs. Her cover of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” — the lead single from her second album, 1990’s I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got — was named the number one world single of the year at the Billboard Music Awards.
Throughout her life, O’Connor was an outspoken advocate for women’s and LGBT rights, freedom of religion, and the destigmatization of mental health disorders. As the musical guest on a 1992 episode of Saturday Night Live, she performed an a cappella version of Bob Marley’s “War,” during which she tore a photograph of Pope John Paul II into pieces in protest of the sexual abuse of children in the Catholic Church. In 2018, she converted to Islam and subsequently changed her name to Shuhada’ Sadaqat, though she continued to perform under her given name.
O’Connor’s own mental health struggles were well documented. In January 2022, a week after her 17-year-old son Shane committed suicide, she was hospitalized voluntarily after posting a series of tweets that indicated her desire to end her own life. She is survived by her three remaining children, as well as a grandson.