I first encountered Sinéad O’Connor as the backing singer in a World Party video on 120 Minutes in early 1987. She was a young woman with a shaven head, dancing in a pixilated manner to the song she was singing BVs for. The camera loved her, and her image was memorable. There weren’t too many young women in Pop sporting crops that short! But as the College Rock Funk-lite of World Party did little for me, she was a sub blip on my radar. Indeed, at the time, I wasn’t even aware of her name. If I had been, I might have remembered seeing the name of Sinéad O’Connor second billed under The Edge on the “Heroine” import 12″ that was in records store the previous year in 1986. But as I was not a fan of U2, I paid scant attention to it.

Then, six or seven months later, watching 120 Minutes as I usually did, I finally heard this woman properly in the stunning showcase that her debut solo single “Troy,” provided. The six and a half minute clip was primarily Ms. O’Connor superimposed on various textural backgrounds [stone, forest, flames] alternatively overlaid in high-contrast photography from the neck up as a flat white image, or either covered with gold or silver body paint as she sang the harrowing ballad. Beginning as a tiny trickle of a performance before transforming into a torrential river of feeling as the backing blossomed into a fully fortissimo orchestral accompaniment.

As the song developed and shifted gears, it was fascinating to hear her really bite into the song’s neck at various points in a way that reminded me at the time of Toyah Willcox; a British singer who I liked, but who was pretty obscure in America. O’Connor’s harsh, emphatic tone at these times reminded me of Toyah’s singing on the “difficult” second Toyah album, “The Blue Meaning.” It was gripping to hear another singer daring to go to those dark places in her performance. And it must be said that Toyah seemed to me to be a dabbler in comparison. It was clear that “Troy” had been issued from a wound in Ms. O’Connor that was still fresh and very intense. Interestingly enough, a few years later Toyah made an album called “Prostitute” which was as uncompromising and powerful as anything made by Sinéad.

I had bought the US CD, of course, but eventually, I discovered that there had been some second guessing by US Chrysalis on the cover photo, with the UK and the rest of the world getting a ferocious portrait from Kate Garner while North America were served up a more demure and passive shot from the session. Which couldn’t have pleased Ms. O’Connor upon discovering that.

“The Lion + The Cobra” had a fairly high profile with lots of College Radio action in America. Following “Troy,” the other singles ranged from the radio-friendly pop of “Mandinka” to the hip-hop adjacent stylings of “I Want Your Hands On Me.” The single of which also featured MC Lyte rapping on it. I had enthusiastically signed up and was buying all of the CD singles to get the mixes and rare cuts. There were strong Post-Punk ties on the album via the participation of Marco [Adam + The Ants] Pirroni and Rob [JAPAN] Dean each playing and in the latter’s case, co-writing on the album. More confusingly, future New Age doyenne Enya also appeared on the album… as a spoken word performer reciting Psalm 61 in Irish for the into to “Never Get Old.” This in advance of her breakthrough “Watermark” album.

Following the album she had the “Jump In The River” single from the “Married to The Mob” soundtrack. That one-co-written with Pirroni but the CD and 12″ single once more found Ms. O’Connor putting sand in the gears of commerce with an unexpected guest artist. In this case, the profane provocations of performance artist Karen Finley graced the remix. She then guested on “The Kingdom Of Rain” on The the’s “Mind Bomb” album. Telegraphing how desirable her vocal performance was seen by her peers.

Her next move after that catapulted her to the forefront of music worldwide. I can’t recall a more dramatic leap in public consciousness than the one that accompanied Ms. O’Connor as her next single took her from the fringes of the alternative charts to number one in 19 countries. All at once she was the “it girl” of Pop as her album “I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got” sold millions of copies and topped the album charts of 17 countries.

It had fallen to her to take an obscure Prince song written for his girlfriend’s band, The Family, to deaf ears in 1985 and breathe new life into it as “Nothing Compares 2 U” had been transformed in the process into a world conquering ballad with O’Connor’s new arrangement and performance. Managing the impressive feat of topping both the US Hot 100 as well as the US Alternative charts. A Venn overlap of high rarity.

Alas, I was not convinced at the time and found myself getting off of the O’Connor bus. The second album opened with a 6:47 track in “Feel So Different” that I seemed to feel every minute of and then some. When I heard the album [as it was impossible to avoid, back then] much of it seemed to lack the diversity of “The Lion + The Cobra.” So for many years, My Sinéad o’Connor collection stalled at the first album and its singles. But the machine of Pop Culture moved ever forward. With her outspoken intensity of feeling coupled with her shaved head image, her new notoriety managed to make her the butt of jokes from the get-go. Mocking her for her strong beliefs and integrity. I recall seeing a look-alike in a sketch where she stole beef jerkys from a convenience store on an MTV comedy show. The hand that giveth, taketh away.

None of this could have been easy for the artist. Her other singles from the album struck targets nowhere near the cultural ground zero of the zeitgeist in the way that “Nothing Compares 2 U” had. In retrospect “The Emperor’s New Clothes” was extremely strong for these ears. Her propensity for speaking her mind and not complying with the machine of publicity must have made her various label PR flack’s hair fall out completely. Utterly bypassing the gray stage. And that was before her famous 1993 Saturday Night Live appearance. The one that made Elvis Costello + The Attractions look mundane in comparison. And after which, the knives came out and she was awarded full pariah status amongst such bastions of The Status Patriarchy as Frank Sinatra and Madonna. Having to endure Joe Pesci’s smack talk on Saturday Night Live the next week. Come hell or high water, even in 1993, there were some things which could not be said aloud in public.

Following that her commercial oxygen was cut off; at least in America. Her third album of jazz standards [“Am I Not Your Girl?”] seemed to follow on from her appearance singing Cole Porter’s “You Do Something To Me” on the “Red, Hot + Blue” album in 1990 made when her star was at its acme. After her Saturday Night Live appearance, its commercial prospects immediately withered; resulting in sales that stopped far short of gold status. It sill made number six on the UK album chart.

In the 90s, I mostly heard her performing on other artist’s albums. In America, at least, her own albums were almost invisible affairs. She still had high profile star turns on albums by Jah Wobble’s Invaders Of the Heart, Peter Gabriel [also resulting in WOMAD performances], Moby and Massive Attack. These guest star turns were significant enough that in 2005, her label Capitol Records did us a favor and paid the royalties to compile a fairly amazing “Collaborations” album that should be a must in every home. And in the liner notes by Adrian Thrills talk of a second volume was already being floated. I really must hear her version of “Don’t Give Up” that she sang as a duet with Willie Nelson one day! I really didn’t want to hear Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush singing that song as it was not what I wanted from either artist in 1986. Interestingly enough, Gabriel had originally wanted Dolly Parton to perform with him and had to fall back on Kate Bush when Dolly nixed the notion. Decades in advance of her Rock career.

By the early 21st century I was liquidating things right and left and any Sinéad O’Connor music got the cut for selling off, since I needed the cash at the time. It remained until a decade or so ago when my wife began buying her albums when she saw them that they began returning to the Record Cell; and in far greater numbers that they had been at first. I’m ashamed to admit that barring the first track, I now find a lot of merit in “I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got.” Songs like “Black Boys On Mopeds” are even more relevant now, and “The Last Day of Our Acquaintance” was a deep cut of astonishing power.

She managed another five albums in the new millennium; the only one of which we have is “Throw Down Your Arms.” It was an album of roots reggae covers and produced by Sly + Robbie with many Compass Point All-Stars playing on the album. Along side her recorded efforts, the singer, never a shrinking violet, kept her social media profile active with media interviews and forthright discussion of her personal struggles and issues. If the truth shall set you free, then Sinéad O’Connor must have been the freest spirit on the planet. It didn’t seem like she could ever be anything but straight shooting, no matter how painful the issues.

It feels like only yesterday when her last album, “I’m Not Bossy, I’m The Boss” was released with the artist sporting a purple page-boy bob wig on the arresting cover. But that was almost a decade ago. Our thought was to buy a copy but that would have entailed seeing it. Which hasn’t happened yet. The singer also wrote her autobiography, “Rememberings,” in 2021. Last year the documentary “Nothing Compares,” examined the turbulent first six years of her career as her star rose, went nova, then in America, was snuffed out as the uncompromising singer refused to be bridled by an industry that doesn’t care what issues artists struggle with as long as they fill their paymasters’ coffers.

The 36 years of her career were filled with many different directions and in that time she had been alternately fragile and resilient to the difficulties that she encountered in living. But the truth we can take away from Sinéád’s art was that it is possible to live a life with integrity. It will not be an easy one, and the pain and attacks that one must endure would understandably break many people. But it also meant that with her music, we were never being lied to by the singer. There was nothing glib or feckless about her music. Ever. If she had decided to record something we would take it as face value as an honest expression of her heart and mind. Which made her priceless in this fallen world. Our condolences to her family, friends, and fans in this time of loss.

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