Sinéad O'Connor

Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor (born December 8, 1966) is a critically-acclaimed, Irish pop music singer and songwriter. As well as her music, she is known for her unconventional appearance (she often has her head shaved) and controversial opinions.

Early life

O'Connor was born in Dublin and was named after Sinéad de Valera, wife of Irish President Eamon de Valera and mother of the doctor presiding over the delivery, and Saint Bernadette of Lourds. She was the middle of five children, sister to Joseph, Eimear, John, and Eoin. Joseph O'Connor is now a notable novelist.

Related Topics:
Dublin - Sinéad de Valera - Eamon de Valera - Saint Bernadette of Lourds - Joseph O'Connor

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Her parents were John O'Connor, a structural engineer later turned barrister, and Marie O'Connor. The couple married young and had a troubled relationship and split up when O'Connor was eight. The three eldest children went to live with their mother, where O'Connor claims they were subject to frequent physical abuse. John O'Connor's efforts to secure custody of his children in a country which routinely gave custody to the mother and prohibited divorce caused him to become chairman of the Divorce Action Group and become a prominent public spokesman. At one point, he even debated his own wife on the subject on a radio show.

Related Topics:
Barrister - Divorce

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In 1979, Sinéad O'Connor left her mother and went to live her father and his new wife. However, her shoplifting and truancy caused her to end up in a reform school at age 15, the Grinan Training Centre run by the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity. In some ways, she thrived there, especially in writing and music, but she also chafed under the imposed conformity. Unruly students there were sometimes sent to sleep in the adjoining nursing home, an experience which made her later comment "I have never - and probably will never - experience such panic and terror and agony over anything". (Rolling Stone, April 1988)

Related Topics:
1979 - Reform school - Grinan Training Centre - Sisters of Our Lady of Charity - Rolling Stone - 1988

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One of the volunteers at Grinan was sister of Paul Byrne, drummer for the band In Tua Nua, who heard O'Connor singing "Evergreen" by Barbra Streisand. She recorded a song with them called "Take My Hand" but they felt that at 15, she was too young to join the band.

Related Topics:
Paul Byrne - In Tua Nua - Evergreen - Barbra Streisand

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In 1983, her father sent her to Newtown School, an exclusive Quaker boarding school in Waterford, an institution with a much more permissive atmosphere than Grinan. With the help and encouragement of her Gaelic teacher, she recorded a four song demo, with two covers and two of her own songs which would later appear on her first album.

Related Topics:
1983 - Newtown School - Quaker - Boarding school - Waterford - Gaelic

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Through an ad she placed in Hot Press in the summer of 1984, she met Columb Farrelly. Together they recruited a few other members and formed a band called Ton Ton Macoute, named for the zombies of Haitian myth. In the autumn, the band even moved to Waterford briefly while O'Connor attended Newtown, but she soon dropped out of school and followed them to Dublin, where their performances gained them positive attention. Their sound was inspired by Farrelly's interest in witchcraft, mysticism, and world music, though most observers thought O'Connor's singing and stage presence was the band's driving force.

Related Topics:
Hot Press - 1984 - Columb Farrelly - Ton Ton Macoute - Zombie - Haiti - Witchcraft

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On February 10, 1985, O'Connor's mother died in a car accident. O'Connor was devastated despite her strained relationship with her mother. Soon afterward she left the band, which stayed together despite O'Connor's statements to the contrary in later interviews, and moved to London.

Related Topics:
February 10 - 1985

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