Sinéad's entry into music came through a series of unfortunate events. Her parents split up and Sinéad went to live with her father and his new wife. By the age of 15 she was getting into trouble, skipping school and shoplifting, so was sent to one of the notorious Magdalene Laundries for 18 months. Through there she met a volunteer who was the sister of Paul Byrne, the drummer for the band 'In Tua Nua' (see my review 23 Sept 2020). Although they felt she was too young to join the group, this meeting led to Sinéad forming a band with Colm Farrelly and others, 'Ton Ton Macoute'. She didn't record anything with them during her short time as part of the group, but it got her some attention from people like The Edge and U2's former head of Mother Records, Fachtna O'Ceallaigh. She was eventually signed to Ensign Records.
The first two albums by Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor were a powerful introduction to an artist who would become as famous for her controversy as for her music. That's a shame because her music has guts and thought and passion and stands on it's own merits.
Her debut album 'The Lion and the Cobra' came out in 1987 and was recorded while Sinéad was 20 years old and pregnant. Three singles were taken from the album, 'Troy', 'Drink Before the War' and the more successful of the three, 'Mandinka'. Within the year Sinéad had hit the US market with her first TV appearance on 'Late Night With David Letterman' singing 'Mandinka' live. Cropped hair, Doc Martens, kick-ass vocals and boundless energy, nobody was going to forget this performance in a hurry. It may have been that her appearance was a little TOO much for the American audiences. When the album was released in the States, a different cover photo was used to make her look a little calmer than the original European one. The European cover was truer to the album though - there were songs of protest and war, as well as reflection such as 'Never Get Old'. That song has a spoken introduction by Enya (see my review 9 Aug 2020) where she recites Psalm 91:13 in Gaelic and the translation includes the album title ..
"You will tread upon the lion and the cobra
You will trample the great lion and the serpent."
The album and 'Mandinka' took her to the 1989 Grammy Awards where her nomination for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance cemented her name into music history.
Then came her second album 'I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got' with what was one of the biggest selling singles in the world for 1990, her cover of Prince's 'Nothing Compares 2 U'. That song swept to #1 in every market through the US, UK, Europe and Australasia. For anyone who hadn't already seen or heard Sinéad O'Connor there was now no excuse and no escape. The video of that song, close up on her beautiful face going through every emotion until a single tear rolls down her cheek, became forever burned into everyone's memory.
Three other songs from the album were released as singles but came nowhere close to the success of 'Nothing Compares 2 U'.
'I Am Stretched On Your Grave' starts with and maintains a basic percussion throughout until breaking out fuller instrumentation towards the end. The vocal Sinéad brings makes it seem nothing like a 17th century Irish poem set to the tune of a hymn. Her fight for justice comes through in 'Black Boys on Mopeds' where, without mentioning his name, she sings about the 1983 death of a young black man in London. Margaret Thatcher certainly gets called out in the song though.
In September '92 she released her 3rd album which was a total departure from the previous two and left many people puzzled and somewhat disappointed. 'Am I Not Your Girl' was just cover versions of mainly 30's - 70's standards, things like 'Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered', 'Secret Love', 'Scarlet Ribbons' etc.
To be honest, it didn't really matter as things turned out. One month later, October 1992, Sinéad walked out onto the stage of Saturday Night Live and sang a version of Bob Marley's 'War' to protest the sexual abuse of children in the Catholic Church. In rehearsals she held up a photo of a refugee child, but in the live performance, depending on your point of view she famously, notoriously, bravely, defiantly, recklessly or heroically held up and then tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II.
After that the attention was no longer on her third album of standard covers.
Enough has been written about Sinéads continuing struggle with abuse, injustice, mental health and the state of the world. I'll leave those aspects to more learned people. As far as her music is concerned she has run the gamut through the years. Her acoustic bare-bones version of Nirvanas 'All Apologies' on her 'Universal Mother' album is mesmerizing. 'Sean-Nós Nua' has her taking traditional Irish songs and singing them, as the title translates, in "new old-style". From there she heads into 'Throw Down Your Arms', a reggae album produced by Robbie Shakespeare and Sly Dunbar. 'Theology' takes such disparate tracks as Lloyd Webbers 'I Don't Know How To Love Him' and 'Rivers of Babylon' famously recorded by Boney M.
I'm starting on a more recent journey with Sinéad O'Connor, having just got her two latest albums, albeit from 2012 and 2014. 'How About I Be Me (and You Be You)?' and 'I'm Not Bossy, I'm the Boss' are so far proving to be a pleasure. A rediscovery of a talent missing in action for too long.
Seemingly following in the footsteps of Cat Stevens, Sinéad has recently gone through some name changes. In 2017 she became known as Magda Davitt, but then in 2018 after converting to Islam she took the name Shuhada Sadaqat. Professionally though she still performs and records as Sinéad O'Connor. And long may she do so.
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