Sinéad Marie Bernadette O’Connor, an Irish singer, songwriter, and activist, has passed away at the age of 56. Her debut studio album, The Lion and the Cobra, was released in 1987 and achieved international chart success. Her 1990 album, I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, was her biggest commercial success, selling over seven million copies worldwide.

Her protests triggered hundreds of complaints from viewers. It attracted criticism from institutions including the Anti-Defamation League and the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations, and celebrities including Joe Pesci, Frank Sinatra and Madonna, who mocked the performance on SNL later that season.[67][70] Two weeks after her SNL appearance, O’Connor was booed at the 30th-anniversary tribute concert for Bob Dylan at Madison Square Garden in New York City. In her 2021 memoir, Rememberings, O’Connor wrote that she did not regret the protest and that it was more important for her to be a protest singer than a successful pop star. Time later named O’Connor the most influential woman of 1992 for her protest.

Died 26 July 2023(2023-07-26) (aged 56) Her inspiration and spirit will live on in us all. R.I.P Sinéad.