Sinead O'Connor

Her parents were John O'Connor; a structural engineer later turned barrister, and Marie O'Connor. The couple married young and had a troubled relationship, splitting up when O'Connor was eight. In 1979, Sinéad O'Connor left her mother and went to live with her father and his new wife. However, her shoplifting and truancy led to her being placed in a reform school at age 15, the Grinan Training Centre run by the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity. In some ways, she thrived there, especially in writing and music, but she also chafed under the imposed conformity.
In 1983, her father sent her to Newtown School, an exclusive Quaker boarding school in Waterford, and an institution with a much more permissive atmosphere than Grinan. With the help and encouragement of her Gaelic teacher, Joeseph Falvy, she recorded a four-song demo, with two covers and two of her own songs which would later appear on her first album.

O'Connor has been married twice. Her first marriage was to John Reynolds, a record producer, writer and musician who co-produced several albums, including her fourth, Universal Mother, in 1994. Her second marriage was to Nicholas Sommerlad, a journalist said to be related to the Queen of Sweden (whose maiden name is Sommerlath), in 2002 but they separated in 2003.

She has three children: a son, Jake Reynolds, by her first husband; a daughter, Roisin Waters, by The Irish Times columnist John Waters; and another son, Shane.

Major work:



O'Connor was just 19 when she signed her first record deal in 1985. Two years later she emerged with the critically acclaimed album The Lion and the Cobra. She moved to London in 1985 where she wrote and produced her first album The Lion and the Cobra. Sinead signed to Ensign Records and the album was released in 1987.
The Lion & The Cobra was not embraced by the pop mainstream, although the singles "Mandinka" and "I Want Your (Hands On Me)" became moderate hits, the latter as a remix to which rapper MC Lyte added verse.

O'Connor's first two albums (1988's The Lion & the Cobra and 1990's I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got) gained considerable attention and mostly positive reviews. She was praised for her unique voice and her original songs. She was also noted for her appearance: her shaved head, angry expression, and sometimes shapeless or unusual clothing.

Sinead returned to London to record her second album in 1989. The first single from the album was a cover of Prince's "Nothing Compares 2 U a song written by Prince." Released in January 1990, it went to #1 in 17 countries, including Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The album I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got, which Sinéad also produced, followed in March and entered the UK album charts at #1. The track hit #1 in Ireland in July 1990 and remained there for eleven weeks; it is the eighth most successful single of the decade there.

In 1992, O'Connor made what some saw as a career-ending move when she tore up a picture of the Pope on national television, after performing on Saturday Night Live. It drew immediate and widespread condemnation. Two weeks later she was booed off the stage at a Bob Dylan tribute concert. O'Connor later announced she was retiring from the music business.

O'Connor's return in 2005 brought her most surprising creative effort to date: a collection of reggae and Jamaican roots cover tunes by artists like Peter Tosh and Burning Spear. O'Connor recorded the album in Jamaica at Bob Marley's former studio with Sly and Robbie, two of the biggest names in reggae.