Sinead O’Connor gave her kids instructions for what to do if she ‘dropped dead tomorrow’
Haunted by singers Prince and Tupac Shakur, Sinead O’Connor left chilling instructions for her children in the event that she ‘dropped dead tomorrow’.
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Sinead O’Connor left behind specific instructions for her children in case she were to die suddenly.
The late “Nothing Compares 2 U” singer told People magazine in 2021 that she wanted to protect her art and finances at all costs if she dropped “dead tomorrow.”
“See, when the artists are dead, they’re much more valuable than when they’re alive,” she told the magazine at the time.
“Tupac [Shakur] has released way more albums since he died than he ever did alive, so it’s kind of gross what record companies do.”
In light of that, the controversial Irish singer informed her children from when “they were very small” that if their “‘mother drops dead tomorrow, before you called 911, call my accountant and make sure the record companies don’t start releasing my records and not telling you where the money is.’”
Although O’Connor said she “came away not liking [Prince] very much” after recording his song “Nothing Compares 2 U,” she still felt sympathetic to how the music industry treated his records after he died in 2016.
“One of the things that’s a great bugbear with me, I get very angry when I think of it, is the fact that they’re raping his vault.”
O’Connor meant the catalogue of songs unreleased by an artist, which some record companies put out for monetary gain.
“[Prince] is a man who released every song he ever recorded, so if he went to the trouble of building a vault, which is a pretty strong thing to do, that means he really did not want these songs released.”
O’Connor was found dead at her London home on Wednesday. She was 56.
The death is not being treated as suspicious, police have confirmed.
Police were called to the Irish music legend’s new $5,700-a-month penthouse in Herne Hill, South London, where she was pronounced dead at the scene on Wednesday.
No medical cause has been given for the death and an autopsy will be conducted with results taking “several weeks,” London Inner South Coroner’s Court said on Thursday.
“Police were called at 11.18am on Wednesday 26 July to reports of an unresponsive woman at a residential address in the SE24 area,” a Metropolitan Police spokesman said.
“A 56-year-old woman was pronounced dead at the scene.”
O’Connor had recently posted on social media that she had found a glimmer of happiness and had moved back to London and felt “very happy to be home” in a video shot in her new apartment on July 9.
It was a new start for the singer after the death of her son Shane, 17, in January 2022, who took his own life after escaping hospital while on suicide watch.
A year on, in January, the mother of four was admitted to hospital after posting on social media that she had “decided to follow” his path.
The social media video was filmed by the singer showing she was in the process of unpacking.
Apologising for the mess, she laughed and called the modern flat a ‘s***hole’.
She also joked about putting Vaseline on her face to look after her skin and “beautiful” sunflowers, which her friend had bought as a house-warming gift, were seen in the modern kitchen.
O’Connor had been vocal about her battles with mental health and the Catholic faith in the past.
She mourned her son in a tweet recently writing: “Been living as an undead night creature since. He was the love of my life, the lamp of my soul.”
“We were one soul in two halves. He was the only person who ever loved me unconditionally. I am lost in the bardo [limbo] without him.”
‘HERO OF MINE’: RUSSELL CROWE’S TRIBUTE
Russell Crowe has penned an emotional tribute to singer Sinead O’Connor after her death at age 56.
The blockbuster star said O’Connor was a “hero of mine” and recalled how the two spent time together when he visited Dublin last year.
“Last year, working in Ireland, having a pint in the cold outside a Dalkey pub with some new friends, a woman with purpose strode past us,” he wrote on Twitter.
“Puffy parker zipped to the nape and her bowed head covered in a scarf.
“One of my new friends muttered an exclamation, jumped up.
“She came with us back to the table and sat in the cold and ordered a hot tea.
“In a conversation without fences we roamed through the recent Dublin heatwave, local politics, American politics, the ongoing fight and pursued the woman.
“Thirty metres down the road the friend and the woman embraced and he waived me over.
“There under streetlights with mist on my breath, I met Sinéad.”
Crowe went on to detail how their interaction unfolded.
“She looked in my eyes, and uttered with disarming softness ‘Oh, it’s you Russell’.
“When her second cup was taking on the night air, she rose, embraced us all and strode away into the fog-dimmed streetlights.
“We sat there the four of us and variously expressed the same thing. What an amazing woman. Peace be with your courageous heart Sinead.
“I had the opportunity to tell her she was a hero of mine.”
Sinead O’Connor was best known for her 1994 hit Nothing Compares 2 U and passed away on Wednesday, 18 months after the loss of her 17-year-old son Shane.
SINGER HITS OUT AT O’CONNOR TREATMENT
A leading British singer-songwriter has shared a powerful post slamming the lack of care and compassion for Irish superstar Sinead O’Connor during her mental health struggles.
The death of O’Connor at the age of 56 has left the music world stunned and prompted a flood of tributes from some of entertainment’s biggest names.
Singer Beth Orton said it was appalling that the world treated O’Connor with cruel mockery, even as her music made millions for the music industry and saved the lives of others wrestling with their own demons.
“I am not lost for words, I’m furious. All this bull---- about mental health and supposedly supporting artists yet nothing gets done to protect the vulnerable … Sinead should have been better taken care of,” she posted on Instagram.
“The cruelty and mockery she experienced over way too many years for being exactly who we needed her to be so we could feel the feelings we would have been unable to know otherwise is appalling.”
Orton described O’Connor as a seer and an artist of the “highest and most righteous form” whose songs came from the soul and should have been “held with the upmost love and care and respect.”
“She found success and made people money from what tormented her, it was clearly extreme and shocking to find success from doing what came naturally to her,” she wrote.
“How brutally lonely for someone as in need of love as she was, someone who gave pure love, pure anger and endless forgiveness with all the wisdom and best will in the world.”
Orton shared how O’Connor’s songs helped her through her grief after losing her mother and that she was glad the Irish music legend had found “some love in the last couple of years.”
“But too late to save her health. I hope she finds the peace she was searching for all the way through.”
O’CONNOR’S TRAGIC FINAL TWEET
No cause of death was given for O’Connor, who became a global star after her stunning 1990 cover of Prince’s Nothing Compares 2 U.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinead,” O’Connor’s family said in a statement.
“Her family and friends are devastated and have requested privacy at this very difficult time.”
O’Connor had struggled for years with mental health issues and was left bereft when her son Shane, 17, took his own life in January 2022 after escaping hospital while on suicide watch.
In her final tweet, the singer hailed Shane as the “love of her life”, adding that she felt “lost” without him as she referenced the bardo, the Buddhist term for the state between death and rebirth.
“Been living as undead night creature since,” O’Connor wrote. “He was the love of my life, the lamp of my soul.
“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.”
O’Connor wrote on her Facebook page earlier this month that she had moved back to London after 23 years and was finishing an album to be released next year.
She also spoke about her plans to tour in Australia and New Zealand in 2024, and in Europe, the US and other territories in 2025.
Brash and outspoken – her shaved head, Doc Martens boots and androgynous wardrobe a challenge to pop culture’s archaic notions of femininity and sexuality – O’Connor forever changed the way women in music were viewed.
O’Connor released 10 studio albums during her sparkling career.
But it was her mesmerising cover of Prince’s Nothing Compares 2 U in 1990 that made her a superstar. The song went to number one around the world, including in Australia.
The video was just as spine-tingling, featuring a close-up of the shaven-headed O’Connor staring directly into the camera and crying. It has subsequently been viewed almost 400 million times on YouTube.
I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, the album, which featured Nothing Compares to U and which also went to number one in Australia, won a Grammy the following year.
But she would become a pariah in America after tearing up a photo of Pope John Paul II — to bring attention to the issue of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church — on Saturday Night Live in 1992.
The incident resulted in her being banned for life by US network NBC and caused widespread protests in the US where fans threw out her albums and Frank Sinatra said he would “kick her a**”.
Days after the Pope incident, she broke down on stage after being booed by the crowd when she performed at an all-star tribute to Bob Dylan at Madison Square Garden.
“I’m not sorry I did it. It was brilliant,” she said in an interview with the New York Times in 2021.
O’Connor converted to Islam in 2018 and changed her name to Shuhada Sadaqat, but continued to sing under the name Sinead O’Connor.
She insisted she never wanted fame.
IRISH LEADERS PAY TRIBUTE
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar paid a moving tribute to the star.
“Her music was loved around the world and her talent was unmatched and beyond compare,” he said.
Irish President Michael D. Higgins said O’Connor was fearless when talking about big issues.
In a lengthy statement, he said he was “struck by the depth of her fearless commitment to the important issues which she brought to public attention, no matter how uncomfortable those truths may have been”.
He wrote: “May I send my deepest condolences to Sinead O’Connor’s father John, the members of her family and to all those with whom she shared her life.
“My first reaction on hearing the news of Sinead’s loss was to remember her extraordinarily beautiful, unique voice. What was striking in all of the recordings she made and in all of her appearances was the authenticity of the performance, while her commitment to the delivery of the song and its meaning was total.
“To those of us who had the privilege of knowing her, one couldn’t but always be struck by the depth of her fearless commitment to the important issues which she brought to public attention, no matter how uncomfortable those truths may have been.”
Sinn Féin vice-president Michelle O’Neill has also paid tribute, writing on social media of her sadness at the news of O’Connor’s death.
“Ireland has lost one of our most powerful and successful singer, songwriter and female artists,” she said.
O’Connor’s death was a big loss to her family, friends and “many followers across the world”, the Republican politician added.
The party’s leader Mary Lou McDonald described O’Connor as an “iconic musical talent” who possessed a “voice of spellbinding beauty”.
“Captivating. passionate, fearlessly outspoken. She was a once-off.”
In a touching post, Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf said O’Connor was a “unique musical talent who undoubtedly inspired many people to speak about their own mental health”.
“We belong to Allah and to Him we shall return,” he tweeted in Arabic.
‘HEARTBROKEN’: MUSIC STARS UNITED IN GRIEF
Irish Outlander star Caitriona Balfe thanked Sinead O’Connor for “sharing your soul with us”.
“I hope you are at peace … and with your baby boy.
“Thank you for sharing your soul with us and soothing us with your incredible voice beautiful Sinead,” she posted.
Nineties indie group Massive Attack posted a lengthy tribute on Twitter, saying the band was “devastated” and “blessed” to have worked with the singer, adding they “dropped their tools during soundchecks” when they heard her voice.
They also said her activism was a “soulful reflex” rather than a “political gesture”.
Summer of ‘69 singer Bryan Adams reflected on his shows with Sinead O’Connor in a tweet, and sent his love to her family.
“RIP Sinead O’Connor, I loved working with you making photos, doing gigs in Ireland together and chats, all my love to your family,” he wrote.
Irish MMA star Conor McGregor tweeted that he had lost a friend.
“The world has lost an artist with the voice of an angel. Ireland has lost an iconic voice and one of our absolute finest, by a long shot. And I have lost a friend,” he posted.
“Sinead’s music will live on and continue to inspire! Rest In Peace, Sinead you are home with your son I am sure,” he said.
O’Connor famously sang the Irish folk song The Foggy Dew for McGregor’s walkout to the Octagon at a UFC title fight.
Jah Wobble, the original player of British post-punk band Public Image Ltd and an artist who collaborated with O’Connor in the past, said she was “a very special person”.
“She had the essence of a Celtic female warrior,” Wobble said.
He added that her voice was “very powerful, very controlled … there was a sweetness and fragility to it.”
British singer Alison Moyet said she felt “heavy hearted” and that she had “wanted to reach out to (O’Connor) often but didn’t” after the death of O’Connor’s teenage son.
“She had a voice that cracked stone with force and by increment,” she said.
Bear McCreary, a TV and film composer, revealed he was working on new music with Sinead O’Connor.
In a Twitter post, he wrote the new songs will never be complete.
“Never forget that she was cancelled for an act of simple resistance. Her crime? Tearing up a photo,” Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan said via social media.
“Sinead stands alone as a figure from our generation who was always true to the piercing voice within and without. And for that I will always admire and respect her.”
“I’m heartbroken. This disgusting world broke her and kept on breaking her,” added Garbage singer Shirley Manson.
“Godspeed dear fragile dived. Thank you for all the beauty and all the wise teachings you offered up to us. I wish you nothing but peace and I will love you for all of time.”
O’Connor dealt with her fair share of tragedy; her mother, with whom she had a tumultuous relationship, died in a car crash in 1985 when O’Connor was just 19 and, in 2022, her 17-year-old son, Shane, died after going missing from a mental health facility in Ireland.
Writing on social media following his death, she said he had “decided to end his earthly struggle” and requested “no-one follows his example”.
As she continued to grieve the loss of Shane, O’Connor’s representatives released a statement announcing she was cancelling all her scheduled shows and would not be performing for the rest of the year.
Indeed, O’Connor had long been open about her own struggles with mental health.
In a 2007 interview, she revealed that she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2003 and had attempted to take her own life on her 33rd birthday in 1999.
In 2015, O’Connor posted on her Facebook page that she had taken an overdose as a result of ongoing difficulties between herself and Donal Lunny, her ex-husband and the father of her youngest child Shane. Irish police later said they had located O’Connor and she was “safe and sound” and receiving medical attention.
In August 2017, she posted an emotional video to her Facebook page, stating that she had three mental illnesses and felt alone after losing custody of then 13-year-old son Shane.
She said that only her psychiatrists and doctor were keeping her alive.
Estranged from some of her children, she asked for someone in her family to take care of her, and added that she was “one of millions” who are stigmatised for their mental illness.
Her final tweet earlier this month, was a tribute to her son.
O’Connor is survived by her three children – son Jake Reyolds, daughter Roisin Waters and youngest son Yeshua Bonadio.
CONTROVERSIES
O’Connor was often at the centre of controversy, particularly when it came to the Catholic Church.
In 1992, she caused worldwide controversy when she ripped up a picture of Pope John Paul II on the US TV show Saturday Night Live, where she was performing.
Following an a cappella performance of Bob Marley’s War, she looked at the camera and said “fight the real enemy”, a protest against the Catholic Church.
She recalled the incident in her 2021 memoir Rememberings.
“A lot of people say or think that tearing up the pope’s photo derailed my career. That’s not how I feel about it,” she wrote.
“I feel that having a number-one record derailed my career and my tearing the photo put me back on the right track.”
EARLY DAYS
O’Connor was born in the affluent Dublin suburb of Glenageary in 1966. She was sent to a reform school for girls due to a troubled relationship with her mother but left in her mid-teens to focus on a career in music, after co-writing a song for Irish band In Tua Nua.
The band’s drummer discovered her singing at his sister’s wedding.
O’Connor moved to London in 1985 and after ditching the initial tapes for her debut album on the grounds that the production was “too Celtic”, she took the producer’s seat herself and began re-recording the album – The Lion and the Cobra – which would go on to earn her a Grammy Award nomination.
However, it was a cover version on the follow-up album, I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, that catapulted O’Connor to global fame.
Nothing Compares to U was a little known Prince track which first appeared in 1985 but the late star only started performing it live after O’Connor’s haunting take made the song a number one hit around the world.
The record earned O’Connor four more Grammy nominations – and a win for best alternative music performance – but she shunned the ceremony in protest at the “false and destructive materialistic values” of the music industry.
She released two more albums in the early ‘90s and several more in the 2000s while publicly sharing her struggles with mental health illness.
O’Connor converted to Islam in 2018 and changed her name to Shuhada Sadaqat, though continued to perform under the name Sinead O’Connor.
“Everyone wants a pop star, see?” she wrote in her 2021 memoir Rememberings.
“But I am a protest singer. I just had stuff to get off my chest. I had no desire for fame.”
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