‘If she were starting out now, she’d still be ahead of her time’
I am full of tears this morning, like so many others in Ireland. As a young Irish male musician in the 80s, I was awed by her personality, talent, of course her beauty and her voice of the oracle. She changed what a female artist could talk about and look like in the Ireland of the 80s and 90s. If she were starting out now, she would still be ahead of her time. It filled me with hope back then that out of a conservative country could still come one of the most talented, stylish, defiant women in the world.
I recorded Sinéad in the early 00s for a TV series and was so in awe of her in the studio I could hardly talk to her. I think I was scared of blurting out “I love you!” She was gentle, sweet, utterly professional and a one-take wonder with her awesome voice. It was shocking to hear how good it was up close and the complete control she had of her instrument. It has been one of the greatest pleasures of my career. Cormac, 54, musician and record producer, Belfast
‘An incomparable voice’
She was on a world tour in the late 80s and came to play a night in Dallas at the Bronco Bowl, a combination amphitheatre and bowling alley. I won tickets on the radio after madly calling in to be caller number nine, or whatever the gimmick was. Her first song was I Am Stretched on Your Grave, and she came out on stage in a stark white dress and with bare feet. No backing band, just a stool to hold a reel to reel unit that had been piped into the sound system. That song starts slowly. That, and the spare setting really highlighted her incomparable voice, and by the time the tempo rose all of my hair was standing up, as was the crowd. A really powerful performance. Theo Mallinson, Texas
‘She shaped my taste in music’
Sinéad O’Connor told many sad stories through her songs and they shaped my taste in music. Musically, her darkness was always appealing to me as she mastered her emotions in every song. She sang like an angel in some, but like “hell hath no fury” in others. So utterly unique. She was also shaping up to be our loudest, most outspoken export and I loved it from the first time I heard it. The 80s in Ireland was a very different place to how it is now. I saw her several times around Dublin. She was walking towards me one day with her daughter who was much younger. I smiled at her and she smiled right back. Róisín Corrigan, Dublin
‘Fierce and brave’
I only saw her live once, back in 1987 in Liverpool, supporting INXS before they really made it big and I couldn’t get anyone to go with me. I had no idea who she was at the time. The audience was full of blokes wearing leather jackets and flannel shirts who booed her from the second she stepped on stage and threw bottles at her. She looked like a punk angel; her voice blew me away. I found out who she was from the legendary staff at Penny Lane Records and bought The Lion and the Cobra. Those songs stuck with me. Always a fighter, fierce and brave. Alissia, Liverpool
‘A role model who gave me permission to be myself’
It changed my perception seeing Sinéad on Top of the Pops – with shaved head, Dr Martens boots, a little dress and playing a guitar. And playing songs she had written. I got the album and was so inspired to write like her in a brave, honest way. It was an important moment for me as here was finally a female role model who gave me permission to be myself. I went on to share her music with my two amazing children, who also were blown away by her music and her work. Bex Southgate, 50, musician and therapist, Cheltenham
‘I was struck by her humility and politeness’
I was on a flight to Paris in the late 1990s, and Sinéad was on the same flight. Even though she was a megastar, I was struck by her humility and politeness. She queued like everyone else – it was only her and her guitar, no superstar aura and no entourage. For people of my generation, she was our voice when we screamed for recognition and retribution for the sins of the Irish state. James Nelson, Dublin
‘She seemed so un-starlike in the rehearsal, but sung amazingly’
I played as part of the orchestra backing for a live Late Late Show performance of Nothing Compares. She seemed so un-starlike in the rehearsal. Maybe even a little uneasy and nervous. She was also respectful towards the orchestra. She confessed to needing the lyrics in front of her on the stage for security. It came to the show and she sung as amazingly as ever. I’m not a fan of being in front of cameras so was unaware the camera was on me when the cooling fans blew our music off the stand. Thinking my desk partner was not going to pick it up, I did it, not realising that she in fact did know the cameras were on us and was playing it cool for the sake of the show. I’m glad the minor disturbance didn’t seem to put Sinéad off, but to this day I’m embarrassed that I was the one who’s head ducked out of the shot to get the music. Anonymous, 51, Dublin
‘A force of nature’
A sign of an amazing artist is when fans can remember the first moment they heard their music. For me it was the video for the song Troy from The Lion and the Cobra on a late-night music programme on TV. I was a teenager living in Indiana at the time and I had never heard a voice that was in turns so beautiful, vulnerable and fierce, nor had I felt such raw and honest emotion from a performer before. Watching that video again today, I see again so clearly that the words and emotion were not just art or something put on for the camera. And I wonder what it must have been like for her, living so vehemently. Her passing, like that of any force of nature who fights for what’s right, leaves me feeling a little emptier and sadder. Susan Coleman, 54, New York
‘Her song reached in when I was feeling so alone and angry’
I was 14 years old when Sinéad O’Connor appeared on the TV singing Nothing Compares 2 U. She looked different from any other woman I had seen on TV. I was dealing with a lot of challenges in my life and forming my own identity – this song reached in and touched my heart when I was feeling so alone and angry. When I was 19, I started to embrace that I was a queer woman and shaving my hair off was a symbol to me of my identity and my strength to be who I want no matter what. I have followed Sinéad O’Connor since this time and loved her ability to speak against the hypocrisy that she saw. Sinéad O’Connor will for ever be a person of courage, depth and beauty – a reminder to be yourself, speak your truth and share your gifts. Carolyn, 47, Scotland
‘Sinéad changed the conversation’
Sinéad changed the conversation. I was living in England in the late 80s. All of a sudden, when strangers heard my Irish accent, instead of turning away, revulsed by reports of the Troubles, now they would smile and say: “You’re Irish? Oh, I love Sinéad O’Connor.” And from there many friendships grew. Sinéad’s power flowed through her voice, she enchanted the world. Áinet, Ireland
