Sam Amico
Noted singer-songwriter Sinead O’Connor has died after a long battle with mental illness, per multiple reports. She was 56.
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The artist, best known for her 1990 hit Nothing Compares 2 U, had been out of the limelight in recent years, reportedly because of her bouts with personal issues. Her hit song Nothing Compares 2 U was written and originally performed by late legendary artist Prince.
O’Connor’s death comes a little more than a year after her son, Shane, took his own life at the age of 17 after escaping a hospital on suicide watch. O’Connor was the mother of four.
She changed her name to Shuhada’ Sadaqat in 2018 after converting to Islam.
She once called Shane the “love of my life, the lamp of my soul.”
Of his death, she wrote: “We were one soul in two halves. He was the only person who ever loved me unconditionally. I am lost in the bardo without him.”
That came in her final tweet, sent earlier this month.
O’Connor recently said she was physically and sexually abused by her mother as a child, resulting in mental health issues as an adult. She was born in Dublin and into what the Daily Mail described as a “troubled family” on Dec. 8, 1966.
O’Connor’s career came with its fair share of controversy, as she was banned from Saturday Night Live after appearing on the program on 1992 and ripping up a picture of the Pope during her performance.
O’Connor’s final tweet, sent earlier this month, was a tribute to Shane.
Following the death of Shane, O’Connor’s management released a statement announcing that she was cancelling all her scheduled concerts.
While I can sympathize with her depression, that last tweet does a great disservice to her other 3 children. The cycle may continue.
Sad!