The Artist:
Born in Dublin on December 8, 1966, Sinead O'Connor is an Irish musician with a repertoire that covers acoustic rock, a capella laments, traditional Irish music, punk influences, lullabies, funk and a unique sort of Irish rap. While a good many of her songs are love ballads, many others cover social issues such as prejudice, child abuse, women's rights, the mistreatment of the Irish by the English and other relevant topics. Her material is about equally divided between love songs and protest songs, with a few songs on each album that seem to be of an autobiographical nature - sort of "what I'm going through lately and how I see my life so far". She writes almost all of of her own lyrics and most of the music, but almost every one of her albums features one departure, either a traditional Irish ballad or a cover of someone else's lesser hit. The most famous of these, and probably her most famous song to date, is a version of "Nothing Compares 2 U", which was one of Prince's concert staples but was popularised by Sinead on her second album.
The Voice:
Vocally, Sinead has a very good range that she uses quite effectively in her music. Her soft, breathy, plaintive style is most familiar to general audiences, being in great demand as background music in films, and this leads many people to think of her as another one of those waiflike ambience artists in the model of Enya or Loreena McKennitt. But in many of her less famous songs she sings much more forcefully, her quiet crooning turning quickly into keening and outraged screams on demand. Of course, those songs don't generally get used in soundtracks, but many of them are the fan favourites ("Troy", "Fire on Babylon").
The Protest:
It must be admitted that Sinead is at least as well known for her sensational acts of protest as for her music. She has been very vocal about her support for the IRA. She refused four Grammy nominations for "I Do Not Want...", tore up a photograph of the Pope on American television, alienated the British or the Catholics or both on almost every album, dedicated one album to the Goddess, retired from music several times (her longest retirement lasted about two years), was ordained as a priest in the Latin Tridentine Church (new name - Mother Bernadette Mary) and came out as a lesbian on the cover of Curve magazine - a statement that she later retracted, as she often does. Although at times she seems to reinvent her beliefs faster than Madonna, she appears to genuinely believe in every cause she takes up. Many pop artists enthusiastically believe in whatever their publicists think they should believe in. This is not the case with Sinead (and if it is, she should get a new publicist).
The Hair:
Sinead's visual trademark is her astoundingly short hair. She has had a three-millimeter cut for most of her career, although once in a while she will let it grow out a centimeter or two. Since she has a very delicate face with big soft eyes, this makes for an instantly recognizable appearance and a great trademark.
As of 2003, she has released eight albums and two collections of singles:
- The Lion and the Cobra, 1988 (First album, released in the US with an alternate, more chaste-looking cover - US market-research people decided it would be best if she wasn't screaming on the cover, as she was on the UK version. I think this gave the Americans a completely different picture of what Sinead was about...)
- I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got, 1990 (includes that song by Prince)
- Am I Not Your Girl?, 1992 (cover album, not her best effort)
- Universal Mother, 1994
- The Gospel Oak EP, 1997 (several different versions of this exist, with varying tracklists and video additions)
- So Far... the Best of Sinead O'Connor, 1997 (Greatest Hits, available in two completely different UK and US versions)
- Faith and Courage, 2000
- Sinead O'Connor - the Essential Collection, 2001 (Another hits collection released worldwide from the Netherlands)
- Sean-Nos Nua, 2002 (An album of traditional Irish songs, mostly sad and delicate. I haven't heard this whole album, but it got some great reviews in the musical press. This is a highly personal work, and I respect her for it, but I wish she'd mixed all those forlorn ballads with a few tunes from Ireland's wilder tradition.)
- She who Dwells in the Secret Place of the Most High Shall Abide Under the Shadow of the Almighty (AKA "She Who Dwells"), 2003 Haven't heard it yet, but it's a double album. One disc is new studio recordings and older demos. The second disc is a recording of a live concert. As of July, 2003, Sinead has officially retired from music again, so this might really be her last album. Or it might not.
- Nope. Here comes another one: Collaborations, which is what it says it is, and
- Throw Down Your Arms, 2006 (A collection of reggae covers, which is actually pretty good if you can get past the mind-boggling concept of a bald white Irish woman talking about "we Africans". No matter where she goes, Sinead is still Sinead.
She has also written many songs for film soundtracks such as "In the Name of the Father", "The Avengers", "You've Got Mail", "The Butcher Boy" (in which she also made a cameo appearance), and "Stigmata". In addition, she has collaborated with a range of artists including Shane MacGowan, Afro-Celt Sound System, Ashtar Command, Gavin Friday, the Chieftains, and De La Soul. Most of her soundtrack songs and the collaborations are featured on her "So Far... the Best of" collection as well as "Collaborations".
Sinead was married to drummer John Reynolds, with whom she shared credits on "Universal Mother" and other efforts. She has one son, Jake, from her marriage with Reynolds, and a daughter, Roisin.
(Writeup updated 8/30/2003 and 4/12/2007 to include new albums and latest incarnations and retractions.)
Sources:
- www.sinead-oconnor.com
- lesbianlife/about.com
- rollingstone.com/artists
- Various liner notes