Sinead O'Connor (1966 - 2023)
Sinead O'Connor was as mighty, pure and fearless an artist as the world has seen. We saw all she was: the truth and the beauty, the holy and the broken.
What does it mean when a person never feels like they fit? When they burn inwardly in a world that feels too bright? I have my moments when the spark flickers, but Sinead burned like a blue flame starved of oxygen one minute, whipped by winds of the fire the next.
Best known for a cover, being bald, and tearing up a picture of the Pope on live television. What a pathetic summary of an extraordinary life. A women who turned a beautiful song into a song for the ages, a woman who defied the stereotypical girly pop star expectations with a middle-fingered buzz cut, and a woman who got the shit kicked out of her in the court of public opinion for bringing to the world's attention the travesty of Church sexual abuse, decades before anyone was prepared to look, listen and admit. Bravery comes at a cost. She paid in full.
Her seventeen year old son took his own life in 2022. It was the one tragedy - and she'd experienced many - from which she could not recover. The pain of losing a child could easily claim us all. But God, she fought. And fought, and fought. She is now at rest, at peace, reunited with her beautiful boy.
Sinead O'Connor was incredible. I'm really going to miss her.
But this is how I'm going to remember her. This is another cover - it's a song by the wonderful John Grant, another artist who's struggled for decades with his mental health. It's called Queen of Denmark, and Sinead sings with such tenderness — until she unleashes all the rage and defiance that simmers inside. But look at the smile! The sharing of that pain; the glory of connection, the liberating grace that music can bestow.
Rest in Peace, Queen of Dublin.