Singer Sinead O’Connor dead at 56
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Singer Sinead O’Connor has died, Irish media reported Wednesday. She was 56 years old.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinéad. Her family and friends are devastated and have requested privacy at this very difficult time,” the singer’s family said in a statement to the BBC and Irish broadcaster RTE.
O’Connor, born in Dublin, was recognizable by her shaved head and elfin features. She was a star from her 1987 debut album “The Lion and the Cobra” and became a sensation in 1990 with her cover of Prince’s ballad “Nothing Compares 2 U,” a seething, shattering performance that topped charts from Europe to Australia and was heightened by a promotional video featuring the gray-eyed O’Connor in intense close-up.
Her discography spanned decades. O’Connor released ten studio albums between 1987 and 2014. Her 1991 album “I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got” won the Grammy for best alternative performance.
She was a lifelong non-conformist — she said her shaved head was in response to record executives pressuring her to be conventionally glamorous.
The singer was always outspoken on political matters, from Irish unification to sexual abuse in the Catholic church. During a 1992 performance on “Saturday Night Live,” O’Connor ripped up a photo of the pope on live television in protest.
In 1999, O’Connor caused uproar in Ireland when she became a priestess of the breakaway Latin Tridentine Church — a position that was not recognized by the mainstream Catholic Church.
She converted to Islam in 2018 and told fans she had changed her name to Shuhada’ Davitt.
FILE – Irish singer Sinead O’Connor performs during the Italian State RAI TV program “Che Tempo che Fa”, in Milan, Italy on Oct. 5, 2014. O’Connor, the gifted Irish singer-songwriter who became a superstar in her mid-20s but was known as much for her private struggles and provocative actions as for her fierce and expressive music, has died at 56. The singer’s family issued a statement reported Wednesday by the BBC and RTE. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni, File) 
Irish singer Sinead O’Connor performs on stage at Akvarium Klub in Budapest, Hungary, Monday, Dec. 9, 2019. (Marton Monus/MTI via AP) 
FILE – Irish singer Sinead O’Connor performs on August 11, 2013 in Lorient, western of France during the Inter-Celtic Festival of Lorient. (Photo by Fred TANNEAU / AFP) (Photo credit should read FRED TANNEAU/AFP via Getty Images) 
FILE- Sinead O’Connor performs at the “Albert Nobbs” soundtrack release party at Palihouse Holloway on January 6, 2012 in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic)
Her cause of death was not immediately released.
O’Connor is survived by her three children, the Irish Times reports. Her son Shane died at age 17 last year.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
