July 26 (UPI) — Irish singer Sinead O’Connor died Wednesday at age 56. O’Connor’s family confirmed the news with The Irish Times and Raidió Telifis Éireann.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinéad,” the statement read. “Her family and friends are devastated and have requested privacy at this very difficult time.”
O’Connor released her first album, The Lion and the Cobra, in 1987. The album won a Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.
Her 1990 sophomore album I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got featured the hit single “Nothing Compares 2 U.” The album won the Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance and the song won MTV Video Music Awards. She boycotted the Grammy Awards in 1991.
O’Connor released 10 albums in all, her last in 2014. She published her memoir, Rememberings, in 2021.
In an Oct. 3, 1992, on Saturday Night Live, O’Connor followed up a performance of Bob Marley’s “War” by tearing up a picture of Pope John Paul II on camera.
O’Connor said, “Fight the real enemy” to protest the sexual abuse of children in the Catholic Church. O’Connor converted to Islam later in life.
O’Connor was also public about her struggles with mental health. In a 2007 Oprah Winfrey Show appearance, O’Connor said she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, later disputed by three doctors.
Rememberings revealed O’Connor’s diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder and borderline personality disorder.
In January 2022, the singer was hospitalized after the death of her son, Shane Lunny.
“There is no point living without him. Everything I touch, I ruin. I only stayed for him. And now he’s gone,” she wrote. “I’ve destroyed my family. My kids don’t want to know me.”
O’Connor had talked about her depression and suicide in the past, including a note she posted online in 2015 and a video she posted online in 2017.
