Sinéad O'Connor's life was marked by ups and downs. The singer worked through personal problems through her music. Several strokes of fate gave her a hard time.
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00:00 Sinead O'Connor has passed away.
00:04 The singer of the hit "Nothing Compares to You" died at the age of 56.
00:09 The life of the native Irish woman was characterized by ups and downs.
00:14 Sinead O'Connor comes from the Irish district of Glenagirrie, south of Dublin, and was the
00:19 third of five children.
00:21 When Sinead was eight years old, her parents separated.
00:26 The singer did not have an easy childhood, as she said several times.
00:31 As a child, she was abused by her alcoholic mother and church officials, among others.
00:37 She found her relationship with her parents so bad that she changed her name in 2017.
00:44 As Magda De Witt, she no longer wanted to be associated with them.
00:49 Sinead O'Connor converted to Islam in 2018 and was calling herself Shuhada Sivakit since.
00:56 For Sinead O'Connor, music was an escape from the suffering she was going through.
01:01 "I'm just a troubled soul who needs to scream into mics now and then," she explained in
01:07 her 2021 autobiography, "Rememberings."
01:11 In 1990, she celebrated her international breakthrough with "Nothing Compares to You,"
01:16 a cover version of a Prince song.
01:19 Her album "I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got," on which the hit can be found, sold
01:23 seven million copies worldwide, including two million in the U.S. and 500,000 in Canada.
01:30 But not only Sinead O'Connor's song itself caused a stir.
01:34 In the accompanying music video, the then 24-year-old shows herself with cropped hair.
01:40 As she herself once reported, before the release of her album, the producers asked her to act
01:46 more girlish.
01:48 Sinead grabbed a razor and cut her hair down to a few millimeters and at that moment created
01:52 her personal trademark, which she remained true to until her death.
01:57 Although Sinead O'Connor was able to celebrate great success in the USA before her international
02:02 breakthrough, she has always struggled with grievances in society.
02:07 In her songs, she addressed sexism, police violence, and abuse.
02:13 In 1992, the singer made headlines when she tore up a picture of then-Pope John Paul II
02:18 on a U.S. television show to protest abuse in the Catholic Church.
02:23 Sinead O'Connor's life was also marked by drugs and suicide attempts.
02:28 In 2015, she admitted that she is suicidal and revealed that she had been treated for
02:33 it in a special clinic.
02:36 Sinead O'Connor announced the end of her career in 2021 and wanted to release her last
02:41 album No Veteran Dies Alone in 2022.
02:44 However, due to the death of her son when he was only 17, the release was postponed.
02:52 The loss of her son was very difficult for the singer.
02:56 Her last post on Twitter read, "Been living as undead night creature since.
03:02 He was the love of my life, the lamp of my soul."
03:05 Her last post on Twitter read, "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."
03:13 [Music]