Sinead O’Connor’s “fire lit a torch for so many of us… particularly those who really needed her light”, the director of a documentary about the late singer has said.
The late Irish musician was known for her powerful vocals and lyrics as well as taking fierce stances on social and political issues such as the child abuse scandal in the Catholic Church and the sexualisation of female musicians.
Belfast-born filmmaker Kathryn Ferguson said she hopes her 2022 documentary on O’Connor, titled Nothing Compares, will “serve as a reminder of her greatness” after her death on Wednesday (26 July) aged 56.
Ferguson told the PA news agency she was “devastated” after hearing of the singer’s death, saying: “We’ve lost such a special, funny and magnificent human being.
“Her fire lit a torch for so many of us, particularly those who grew up in the 1990s, and those who really needed her light.
“Her music and her activism touched people deeply in nearly every country in the world.
“She was not only ahead of her time, but courageous and unwavering.
“Her authenticity, her boldness and her distilled vision about what mattered most cut through the noise and reached people, particularly people with hearts that were open.”
— (PA Archive)
The documentary, which will broadcast on Sky Documentaries and Now from Saturday, charts O’Connor’s rise to worldwide fame after releasing her version of “Nothing Compares 2 U” and the backlash she later faced due to some of her protests.
In 1992, O’Connor sparked controversy when she ripped up a picture of Pope John Paul II on US sketch show Saturday Night Live in protest at the Catholic Church, and the backlash was vitriolic.
The documentary also features content from some of her music videos and concert performances, previously unseen footage and a more recent interview.
Ferguson said it was a “tremendous privilege” to make the programme with the singer’s blessing.
“It was my love letter to Sinead, and one that I hope will continue to serve as a reminder of her greatness,” she added.
“When we first launched the film, the response to her and her story was like an avalanche of love, and I can feel that love today as we collectively grieve her passing.
“We’ve lost such a special, funny and magnificent human being. We were very lucky to have her in the first place, I just wish we had treated her better.
“I hope there is a lesson somewhere in this to treat each other more kindly.”
On Wednesday’s edition of BBC Breakfast, Ferguson also reflected on the impact the music video for “Nothing Compares 2 U” had on young women growing up in Ireland in the 1990s.
The video shows a distinctive close-up of her in a black polo neck, singing straight to the camera as tears roll down her cheeks.
— (AP)
Ferguson said: “This was the MTV generation with so much happening, and graphics, and there was a lot of bells and whistles in our pop videos at that point.
“And I think it was such a distilled, pure, potent piece of film and it just connected with literally the millions around the world, and it’s surely one of the most famous videos of all time and will always be.
“I can just speak as an Irish woman and what she’s meant to me and to us.
“She was just this huge icon to all of us, someone that we hugely admired and looked up to.
“And the big reason that I wanted to make the film at all was because of the impact she had on me as a young Irish teenager growing up, and the impact she had and the emotional dent that was left when I and my friends witnessed what then went on to her, happened to her, in the mid-90s and the backlash that she endured.”
Nothing Compares will be available from Saturday on Sky Documentaries and Now and will also be shown on Sky Showcase and Sky Arts.
