SINÉAD O'CONNOR

Sinéad O'Connor naceu o 8 de decembro de 1966 en Dublín, a terceira de cinco irmáns, fillos de John Oliver "Seán" O'Connor, un enxeñeiro estrutural que mais tarde sería avogado, e Johanna Marie O'Grady. Foi á escola Dominican College Sion Hill en Blackrock, County Dublin. 

Durante toda a súa infancia, Sinéad sufriu severos maltratos físicos e psicolóxicos por parte da súa relixiosa nai, que a golpeaba con crueldade habitualmente, e que tamén lle ensinou a roubar do prato das esmolas da igrexa e das latas de caridade. Cando tiña oito anos, os seus pais separáronse (non había divorcio en Irlanda), e a nai obrigouna a vivir durante meses nunha caseta do xardín traseiro. Sinéad tamén sufriu abusos por parte de persoas estrañas, e en xeral tivo que sobrevivir nun clima de violencia e represión que se transmitiu de xeito xeracional na Irlanda da época, que en gran parte foi xerado pola igrexa Católica.

En 1979, aos trece anos, decidiu ir a vivir co seu pai, que regresara a Irlanda tres anos despois de casar por segunda vez nos Estados Unidos. Aos quince anos, despois dunha serie de roubos e absentismo escolar, enviárona a un “Asilo da Madalena”, que era un tipo de institucións relixiosas que albergaban ou retiñan a “mulleres caídas”, algunhas delas menores embarazadas ás que lles quitaban os seus bebés. Dirixían lavanderías comerciais, onde as mulleres traballaban sen cobrar baixo un réxime penitenciario. Era o Grianán Training Centre en Drumcondra, onde por outra parte unha monxa lle a mercou a súa primeira guitarra, e veu que a música salvaría a súa vida.

Unha das voluntarias no centro da Madalena era a irmá de Paul Byrne, o batería da banda In Tua Nua, que a escoitou cantar. Gravou con eles a canción “Take My Hand”, pero pensaron que con quince anos era demasiado nova para unirse ao grupo. 

Para Sinéad, dende moi pequena, cantar era unha forma de escape, e vía as cancións como oracións, conversas con ela mesma. Dicía que o traballo dos artistas consiste en ser eles mesmos, honestos a calquera prezo. Cando cantaba, non estaba pensando en que pensaría o público, ou no éxito que tería, facíao porque é unha necesidade vital, identificándose emocionalmente coa canción por completo.

Máis tarde estivo interna un curso no Maryfield College en Drumcondra, e outro na Newtown School en Waterford, onde gravou unha demo de catro cancións. No verán de 1984, mediante un anuncio que puxo na revista Hot Press, coñeceu a Colm Farrely, e xuntos buscaron a outros músicos e formaron a banda Ton Ton Macoute. O grupo mudouse a Waterford brevemente mentres Sinéad estudaba na Newtown School, pero ela pronto deixou a escola e foise con eles a Dublín, onde as súas actuacións recibiron críticas positivas; Sinéad destacaba pola súa voz e presencia no escenario.

En 1985, cando tiña 18 anos, a súa nai morreu nun accidente de coche. Pouco despois deixou a banda e marchou a Londres.

A industria musical fixárase nela cando estaba en Ton Ton Macoute e finalmente foi contratada por Ensign Records. Tamén conseguiu a un manager con experiencia, Fachtna Ó Ceallaigh, antigo encargado de Mother Records, de U2. O seu primeiro traballo foi como vocalista na canción “Heroine”, que escribiu xunto con The Edge, o guitarrista de U2, para a banda sonora da película “Captive”. 

O seu primeiro álbum, “The Lion And The Cobra”, foi publicado en 1987 por Chrisalys Records e foi un éxito nas emisoras de radio universitarias e urbanas dos Estados Unidos, e nas europeas. Sinéad escribiu as cancións como unha terapia. Durante a gravación, quedou embarazada do seu primeiro fillo; a discográfica advertiuna de que a maternidade e unha carreira eran incompatibles, e premeuna para que non o tivera. Ademais, tentaron suavizar a súa imaxe na portada para que non parecera que estaba enfadada. Sinéad rapara a súa cabeza porque non quería adoptar unha aparencia conforme ás visións tradicionais da feminidade; non quería ser guapa nin vestir saias curtas, e prefería que a valoraran pola súa música e non polo seu aspecto.

Sinéad pensaba que os executivos das compañías discográficas son como androides que só pensan en pagar a súa hipoteca, e que non teñen ningunha consideración polos sentimentos das persoas, así que moitas veces tratan aos artistas dun xeito vergoñento. A industria pode ser extremadamente condescendente coas mulleres, e suponse que deben ter o pelo longo, vestir de xeito feminino e non expresar opinións. Dende o principio, ela rexeitou esas imposicións acerca das normas que debe cumprir unha muller. Incluso baixo enormes presións, ela estaba preparada para dicir o que sentía, e daba a cara polo que cría, nunha sociedade que considera agresivas ás mulleres que fan iso.

En 1988, na súa primeira aparición en televisión nos Estados Unidos, cantou "Mandinka" no “Late Night with David Letterman”. Foi nomeada para o Grammy á Mellor Interpretación Vocal de Rock Feminina, e tamén interpretou "Mandinka" na entrega dos premios. Atado detrás da súa cintura, levaba o pixama do seu fillo Jake, e pintado na cabeza, o logo do grupo de hip hop Public Enemy, para protestar porque o primeiro premio que a organización concedía á Mellor Interpretación de Rap foi outorgado fóra da pantalla.

En 1989 lanzou “Nothing Compares 2 U”, unha canción escrita por Prince, que se engadiría ao álbum que publicou en 1990 “I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got”. O’Connor retirouse dunha aparición programada no programa americano Saturday Night Live cando soubo que o presentaría Andrew Dice Clay, quen dixo que non era respectuoso coas mulleres. Tamén se negou a que se tocara o himno nacional antes dun concerto no Garden State Arts Center de Nova Jersey, en protesta polo racismo e a censura da MTV aos vídeos de artistas de rap. Isto produciu un grande rexeitamento por parte de políticos e DJs, pero gañou tres MTV Video Music Awards. Máis tarde, O'Connor obtivo catro nomeamentos ao Grammy, pero negouse a aceptar os nomeamentos, e o premio que gañou,  criticando á industria musical porque premia o álbum máis vendido e promove valores falsos e materialistas a costa do sacrificio persoal dos artistas, máis ca recompensar o mérito artístico.

En 1992 lanzouse o seu terceiro álbum, “Am I Not Your Girl?”, unha colección de versións de jazz. Ese ano, apareceu no Saturday Night Live cantando “War” de Bob Marley, e ao rematar rachou unha foto do papa Xoán Paulo II, que estivera colgada no dormitorio da súa nai, mentres dicía: “loita co verdadeiro inimigo”, en protesta polos abusos sexuais a nenos na igrexa Católica. Isto sucedeu anos antes de que se coñeceran estes abusos en todo o mundo, pois a igrexa encubríaos a pesar de ter constancia deles, e produciuse unha ondada de críticas contra Sinéad, que foi apupada dúas semanas despois nun concerto de homenaxe a Bob Dylan en Nova York. A partir dese momento, empezaron a tratala coma unha paria, coma se estivera tola. Pero ela nunca se arrepentiu; considerábase unha cantante de protesta e non unha estrela pop, e o incidente veu a encamiñar a súa traxectoria, que a levou a converterse nunha gran intérprete en directo.

Unha década máis tarde fixéronse públicos en todo o mundo os abusos sexuais a nenos na igrexa Católica. Como persoa crente, Sinéad mantiña que a igrexa está tomada por persoas que en realidade non cren en Deus nin nos valores que predican, coma o perdón, a compaixón, a honestidade ou a valentía. Pensaba que o espírito santo estaba limpando as relixións organizadas dun xeito moi doloroso pero necesario. O certo é que quedou ao descuberto a gran hipocrisía social na que vivimos, onde unha muller que racha a fotografía do papa é retratada polos medios coma unha persoa inestable, e tratada pola xente coma lixo, en lugar de poñer no punto de mira o que están facendo os curas pedófilos. En realidade a voz de Sinéad era moi consistente.

Ata 1992, estivera vivindo entre Londres e Los Ángeles, e ese ano regresou a Dublín para estar cerca da súa familia, e pasou os meses seguintes estudando bel canto. Entre 1993 e principios dos anos 2000, ademais de dar a luz á súa segunda filla Roisin en 1996, Sinéad continuou traballando e publicando discos: en 1994, “Universal Mother”; en 1997 o EP “Gospel Oak” e un disco de éxitos; no 2000 “Faith And Courage”; no 2002 “Sean-Nós Nua”, no que interpretou cancións tradicionais irlandesas; e no 2003 o recompilatorio doble “She Who Dwells in the Secret Place of the Most High Shall Abide Under the Shadow of the Almighty”, tras o cal anunciou a súa retirada da música. 

En 2004 naceu o seu terceiro fillo Shane (chamado coma Shane McGowan). No 2005 publicou “Collaborations”, un disco de invitados. Despois de pasar un breve período de inactividade facendo fronte á fibromialxia, anunciou que quería volver á música, pero non ao mainstream, senón para explorar outros estilos musicais. A Finais de 2005 lanzou “Throw Down Your Arms”, un álbum de reggae baseado na cultura e forma de vida rastafari. En 2006 deu a luz ao seu cuarto fillo Yeshua, e en 2007 publicou “Theology”. En 2012, lanzou “How About I Be Me ( And You Be You)?”.

Durante a súa carreira, Sinéad colaborou con numerosos artistas e bandas coma Bono, The Edge, U2, Gavin Friday, The The, Shane MacGowan, Roger Waters e Richard Wright de Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, Roger Daltrey de The Who, Willie Nelson, Mary J. Blige, Zuccero, Wyclef Jean dos Fugees, Dave Steward dos Eurythmics, Dolly Parton, Massive Attack, Moby, Ian Brown de The Stone Roses... Tamén colaborou con iniciativas solidarias como o álbum Red Hot + Blue para recadar fondos na loita contra a SIDA, e aparicións en actuacións benéficas coma nun concerto organizado por Amnistía Internacional en Santiago de Chile; ademais escribiu e gravou cancións para bandas sonoras de películas, como “You Made Me The Thief Of Your Heart”, para a banda sonora de “In The Name Of The Father”, despois de que Gavin Friday suxerira o seu nome para cantala.

En 2013, Sinéad revelou que os médicos descubriran recentemente que despois do nacemento do seu terceiro fillo, en 2005, foi diagnosticada erroneamente con trastorno bipolar. En realidade, padecía un trastorno de estrés postraumático complexo debido á violencia que sufriu na súa infancia. Este diagnóstico erróneo tivo unhas consecuencias moi perniciosas para ela, debido aos efectos prexudiciais que tiveron os medicamentos que lle prescribiron no seu organismo e na súa saúde mental durante anos, ademais de que nunca recibiu un tratamento adecuado para o seu problema. Os medicamentos debilitárona extremadamente e causáronlle pensamentos suicidas. Sinéad falou claramente da súa saúde mental, e de como sería necesario deixar de estigmatizar estes problemas, porque moitas persoas ocultan os seus síntomas e non buscan axuda.

Ese mesmo ano publicou “I’m Not Bossy, I’m The Boss”.

En 2015 tivo que someterse a unha histerectomía, e unha vez máis o coidado que recibiu non foi o máis adecuado: dous días despois da operación dixéronlle que tiña que abandonar o hospital, sen recibir o tratamento hormonal necesario, nin orientacións sobre as consecuencias da operación. De repente, entrou na menopausa cirúrxica. Isto tivo un grande impacto na súa saúde mental, estaba furiosa. Mentres ela estaba recuperándose nun hospital, empezou a ter moitos pensamentos suicidas porque se atopaba soa e non lle deixaban ver ao seu fillo Shane. O seu pai ingresou ao rapaz nun centro de acollida sen consultala e deixárono alí seis meses.

Sinéad pasou os anos seguintes tentando recuperarse, e entrou en rehabilitación. Quería prepararse para volver a facer xiras, e en 2021 publicou a súa autobiografía “Rememberings”.

En xaneiro de 2022, o fillo de 17 anos de Sinéad desapareceu mentres estaba baixo vixilancia por conduta suicida no Tallaght Hospital. O seu corpo foi recuperado varios días despois.

Sinéad morreu en xullo de 2023 aos 56 anos. Por todo o mundo xurdiron mostras de cariño e homenaxes. Nos medios todo foron eloxios, cando mentres estaba viva moitos empregaron os seus problemas de saúde mental para silenciala, para linchala e burlarse dela. A súa historia debería servir para que reflexionemos sobre como tratamos ás persoas con problemas de saúde mental.

Lembraremos o seu talento natural enorme como artista, e a súa voz única. Auténtica e valente, mantívose firme na loita pola súa liberdade creativa, e foi unha activista comprometida con diversas causas sociais que serviu de inspiración e de axuda a moitas persoas que se sentiron coma ela.

Sinéad O'Connor was born on December 8, 1966, in Dublin, the third of five siblings, to John Oliver "Seán" O'Connor, a structural engineer who later became a lawyer, and Johanna Marie O'Grady. She went to Dominican College Sion Hill in Blackrock, County Dublin.

Throughout her childhood, Sinéad suffered severe physical and psychological abuse from her religious mother, who regularly beat her cruelly, and who also taught her to steal from the church's collection plate and charity tins. When she was eight, her parents separated (there was no divorce in Ireland), and her mother forced her to live for months in a shed in the backyard. Sinéad was also abused by strangers, and she generally had to survive in a generationally transmitted climate of violence and repression in Ireland at the time, which was largely generated by the Catholic church.

In 1979, at the age of thirteen, she decided to go live with her father, who had returned to Ireland three years after remarrying in the United States. At the age of fifteen, after a series of thefts and truancy, she was sent to a "Magdalene asylum", which was a type of religious institution that housed or detained "fallen women", some of them pregnant minors from whom their babies were taken . They ran commercial laundries, where women worked without pay under a penitentiary regime. It was the Grianán Training Center in Drumcondra, where on the other hand a nun bought her her first guitar, and she realized that music would save her life.

One of the volunteers at the Magdalene center was the sister of Paul Byrne, the drummer of the band In Tua Nua, who heard her sing. She recorded the song "Take My Hand" with them, but they thought that at fifteen she was too young to join the group.

For Sinéad, from a very young age, singing was a form of escape, and she saw songs as prayers, conversations with herself. She said that the job of artists is to be themselves, honest at any cost. When she sang, she wasn't thinking about what the audience would think, or how successful she would be, she was doing it because it's a vital need, emotionally identifying with the song completely.

She later boarded for a term at Maryfield College in Drumcondra, and for another one at Newtown School in Waterford, where she recorded a four-song demo. In the summer of 1984, through an advertisement that she placed in the magazine Hot Press, she met Colm Farrely, and together they looked for other musicians and formed the band Ton Ton Macoute. The group moved to Waterford briefly while Sinéad studied at Newtown School, but she soon left school and went with them to Dublin, where their performances received positive reviews; Sinéad stood out for her voice and stage presence.

In 1985, when she was 18, her mother died in a car accident. Soon after she left the band and went to London.

The music industry took notice of her when she was in Ton Ton Macoute and she was eventually signed by Ensign Records. She also got an experienced manager, Fachtna Ó Ceallaigh, former manager of U2's Mother Records. Her first work was as a vocalist in the song "Heroine", which she wrote together with The Edge, the guitarist of U2, for the soundtrack of the film "Captive".

Her first album, "The Lion And The Cobra", was published in 1987 by Chrisalys Records and was a success on college and urban radio stations in the United States, and in Europe. Sinéad wrote the songs as therapy. During the recording, she became pregnant with her first child; the label warned her that motherhood and a career were incompatible, and pressured her not to have one. Also, they tried to soften her image on the cover so it didn't look like she was angry. Sinéad had shaved her head because she did not want to adopt an appearance that conformed to traditional views of femininity; she didn't want to be pretty or wear short skirts, and she preferred to be valued for her music rather than her looks.

Sinéad thought that record company executives are like androids who only think about paying their mortgage, and have no regard for people's feelings, so they often treat artists in a shameful way. The industry can be extremely condescending towards women, and they are supposed to have long hair, to dress femininely and not to express opinions. From the beginning, she rejected those impositions about the norms that a woman must fulfill. Even under enormous pressure, she was prepared to say what she felt, and stand up for what she believed in, in a society that considers women who do so  aggressive.

In 1988, in her first appearance on television in the United States, she sang "Mandinka" on "Late Night with David Letterman". She was nominated for a Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, and also performed "Mandinka" at the awards show. Tied behind her waist, she wore his son Jake's pajamas, and painted on her head the logo of the hip hop group Public Enemy, to protest that the organization's first award for Best Rap Performance was awarded off-screen.

In 1989 she released "Nothing Compares 2 U", a song written by Prince, which would be added to the album she published in 1990 "I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got". O'Connor pulled out of a scheduled appearance on the US show Saturday Night Live when she learned it was to be hosted by Andrew Dice Clay, who she said was disrespectful to women. She also refused to play the national anthem before a concert at the Garden State Arts Center in New Jersey, protesting racism and MTV's censorship of videos by rap artists. This produced a great rejection on the part of politicians and DJs, but she won three MTV Video Music Awards. O'Connor later earned four Grammy nominations, but refused to accept the nominations, and the award she won, criticizing the music industry for rewarding the best-selling album and promoting false, materialistic values ​​at the expense of artists' personal sacrifice, more than reward artistic merit.

In 1992 she released her third album, "Am I Not Your Girl?", a collection of jazz versions. That year, she appeared on Saturday Night Live singing "War" by Bob Marley, and at the end she tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II, which had been hanging in her mother's bedroom, while saying: "fight the real enemy", in protest of the sexual abuse of children in the Catholic church. This happened years before these abuses became known around the world, as the church covered them up despite having evidence of them, and there was a wave of criticism against Sinéad, who was booed two weeks later at a Bob Dylan tribute concert in Nova York. From that moment on, they started treating her like an outcast, like she was crazy. But she never regretted it; she considered herself a protest singer rather than a pop star, and the incident set her career on track, leading her to become a major live performer.

A decade later, the sexual abuse of children in the Catholic church became public all over the world. As a person of faith, Sinéad maintained that the church is taken over by people who do not really believe in God or the values ​​they preach, such as forgiveness, compassion, honesty or courage. She thought that the holy spirit was cleansing organized religions in a very painful but necessary way. The truth is that the great social hypocrisy in which we live was exposed, where a woman who rips up the photograph of the pope is portrayed by the media as an unstable person, and treated by people as trash, instead of focusing on what pedophile priests are doing. Actually Sinéad's voice was very consistent.

Until 1992, she had been living between London and Los Angeles, and that year she returned to Dublin to be near her family, and spent the following months studying bel canto. Between 1993 and the beginning of the 2000s, in addition to giving birth to her second daughter Roisin in 1996, Sinéad continued to work and publish albums: in 1994, "Universal Mother"; in 1997 the EP "Gospel Oak" and a hits album; in 2000 "Faith And Courage"; in 2002 "Sean-Nós Nua", in which she interpreted traditional Irish songs; and in 2003 the double compilation "She Who Dwells in the Secret Place of the Most High Shall Abide Under the Shadow of the Almighty", after which she announced her retirement from music.

In 2004, her third son Shane (named after Shane McGowan) was born. In 2005 she published "Collaborations", a guests album. After spending a brief period of inactivity coping with fibromyalgia, she announced that she wanted to return to music, but not to the mainstream, but to explore other musical styles. At the end of 2005 she released "Throw Down Your Arms", a reggae album based on the Rastafarian culture and way of life. In 2006 she gave birth to her fourth son Yeshua, and in 2007 she published "Theology". In 2012, she released "How About I Be Me (And You Be You)?".

During her career, Sinéad collaborated with numerous artists and bands such as Bono, The Edge, U2, Gavin Friday, The The, Shane MacGowan, Roger Waters and Richard Wright of Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, Roger Daltrey of The Who, Willie Nelson, Mary J. Blige, Zuccero, Wyclef Jean of the Fugees, Dave Steward of the Eurythmics, Dolly Parton, Massive Attack, Moby, Ian Brown of The Stone Roses... She also collaborated with charity initiatives such as the Red Hot + Blue album for raising funds in the fight against AIDS, and appearances in charity performances such as a concert organized by Amnesty International in Santiago de Chile; she also wrote and recorded songs for film soundtracks, such as "You Made Me The Thief Of Your Heart", for the soundtrack of "In The Name Of The Father", after Gavin Friday suggested her name to sing it.

In 2013, Sinéad revealed that doctors had recently discovered that after the birth of her third child in 2005, she had been misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder. In reality, she suffered from complex post-traumatic stress disorder due to the violence she suffered in her childhood. This misdiagnosis had very harmful consequences for her, due to the damaging effects of the prescribed drugs on her body and mental health for years, and the fact that she never received proper treatment for her problem. The medications made her extremely weak and caused her to have suicidal thoughts. Sinéad spoke clearly about her mental health, and how it would be necessary to stop stigmatizing these problems, because many people hide their symptoms and do not seek help.

That same year he published "I'm Not Bossy, I'm The Boss".

In 2015 she had to undergo a hysterectomy, and once again the care she received was not the most adequate: two days after the operation she was told she had to leave the hospital, without receiving the necessary hormone treatment, or guidance on the consequences of the operation. Suddenly, she entered surgical menopause. This had a huge impact on her mental health, she was furious. While she was recovering in a hospital, she began to have many suicidal thoughts because she was alone and was not allowed to see her son Shane. His father placed the boy in foster care without consulting her and he was left there for six months.

Sinéad spent the following years trying to recover, and entered rehab. She wanted to prepare to tour again, and in 2021 she published her autobiography “Rememberings”.

In January 2022, Sinéad's 17-year-old son went missing while being under suicide watch at Tallaght Hospital. His body was recovered several days later.

Sinéad died in July 2023 aged 56. Outpourings of love and tributes poured in from all over the world. In the media it was all praise, when while she was alive many used her mental health issues to silence her, to lynch and to mock her. Her story should make us think about how we treat people with mental health problems.

We will remember her enormous natural talent as an artist, and her unique voice. Authentic and brave, she stood firm in the fight for her creative freedom, and was an activist committed to various social causes that served to inspire and help many people who felt like her.