In video: A look back at Sinéad O’Connor’s career and life — from 1987 to 2023
An emotional Sinéad O’Connor performing at the Point Theatre in Dublin in 1991. Picture: Eamonn Farrell/RollingNews
Aged 21, Sinéad O’Connor released her debut album The Lion and the Cobra, which features her first hit single Mandinka. As well as reaching the Irish charts, it led to an appearance on Late Night with David Letterman, marking her television debut in the US.
In 1990, the release of her second album, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got, saw O’Connor become a global star. It featured the single Nothing Compares 2 U which remains one of her most iconic songs.
The same year, she performed at Glastonbury Festival in the UK.
During a performance on Saturday Night Live (SNL) in 1992, Sinéad O’Connor ripped up a picture of Pope John Paul II. Looking to the camera as she did it, the singer told those watching to “fight the real enemy.” It caused global criticism and occurred during the height of O'Connor's music career.
Years later, she wrote about the moment in her biography: “My intention had always been to destroy my mother’s photo of the pope. It represented lies and liars and abuse. The type of people who kept these things were devils like my mother. I never knew when or where or how I would destroy it, but destroy it I would when the right moment came.”
Following the SNL controversy, O’Connor went on to play the Virgin Mary in Neil Jordan’s The Butcher Boy, which was based on Patrick McCabe’s novel.
Aged 32, O’Connor was ordained as a Latin Tridentine priest and revealed that she was taking the name Mother Bernadette Marie. The ceremony took place in Lourdes and sparked conversations about whether women should be allowed to enter the priesthood.
She then appeared on the Late Late Show with Gay Byrne and discussed the decision to be ordained.
Speaking to Byrne, she explained why she became a priest: “Because I believe in the church, and I don’t want the church to die. Because I believe in the power of prayer and the power of the spoken word and because I believe in Christianity.”
The year 2003 marked milestones such as featuring on a number of songs on a Massive Attack album and Dolly Parton’s tribute album. However, following this, O’Connor announced that she was retiring from music to pursue a different career.
Thankfully, the retirement did not last long and she was back with a new album by 2005.
In 2018, the singer announced that she had converted to Islam and had changed her name to Shuhada Sadaqat. She made the announcement on Twitter, and said that her conversion was “the natural conclusion of any intelligent theologian’s journey. All scripture study leads to Islam. Which makes all other scriptures redundant”.
In June 2021, the singer announced her retirement from the music industry once again, stating that she had “gotten older” and was “tired”. Her final studio album, No Veteran Dies Alone was due to be released in 2022 but following the death of her son Shane (17), it was postponed.
Earlier this year, O’Connor attended the RTÉ Choice Music Awards. She accepted her award for Best Irish Classic Album for her 1990 release I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got. The award was presented by Irish broadcaster, Dave Fanning.
Following her win, singer CMAT took to social media to find out if O’Connor was in the room when she was named the winner of the award for album of the year. “Lots of reasons for me to cry right now but that might make me faint,” she wrote on Twitter at the time.
