Sinéad O'Connor season has arrived again in Ireland – open season for the tabloid media with photographers snapping the owner of the country's most remarkable singing voice, wrapped in a towel on her doorstep in County Wicklow. And another season for deliberation among her friends, admirers and detractors over what Ireland's most outspoken voice on the taboos of sex and church will do next.
Last week O'Connor, 45, announced that her fourth marriage, to youth drug counsellor Barry Herridge — a drive-thru wedding in Las Vegas followed by a marijuana search that ended in a crack den — was over, after 16 days. Meanwhile, a ninth album awaits release next month. Nothing, it seems, compares to Sinéad.
Not many superstars would have done it this way: over summer, with marriage number three recently on the rocks, the mother-of-four embarked on a search via Twitter for a "sex-starved man" to end her vividly-described relationships with fruit. The successful applicant, O'Connor stipulated, would be "preferably sterile" with "no addictions other than sex, cigarettes or coffee" and "has to be blind/mad enough to think I'm gorgeous". Herridge, of Dublin, was the lucky candidate.
In early December, the woman who has become prey and plaything to Irish tabloids told the Irish Sun: "I'm completely infatuated … He's been asking me to marry him since the day we met… This is my dream wedding since I was a kid. I've always dreamt about getting married in Vegas." On her website, she added: "About the glorious marriage… It's a bit of a 'Can't. Talk. Cock. In. Mouth'. Situation. Xxx".
As if we needed to know, and if only: it transpired that the newlyweds spent just seven days together. O'Connor, went back to the Sun, of all places, to explain that there'd been a "wild ride" on the wedding night, in search of "a bit of a smoke of weed… We ended up in a cab in some place that was quite dangerous. I wasn't scared, but he's a drugs counsellor. What was I thinking? Then I was handed a load of crack. Barry was very frightened – that kind of messed everything up a bit really."
On the website, a further account and explanation: "intense pressure" had been applied to Herridge "by certain people in his life, not to be involved with me" — they had "kyboshed the marriage". But then: "I intend to get on with being fully me. With never an apology for ANY part of being FULLY ME … So now u can all go ahead and have a great laugh, media wise, and be horrid if you desire."
This is one of the greatest artists in a nation that specialises in great artistry; the woman of striking beauty in that video of Nothing Compares 2 U; and equalling striking courage, taking on the outrage of sexual abuse in the Catholic church before anyone else. The woman who has been disarmingly honest about bipolar disorder, suicidal inclinations and childhood with an abusive mother (an account challenged by her novelist brother, Joseph O'Connor). What is going on? "What happens on Twitter is hideous," says one insider of the Irish music scene. "There are people who would be certified for less. And yet with this brazen vulnerability, she is tapping in to one end of our own vulnerabilities, and this is part of the appeal… she sings like she's singing to save her own life."
But, continues this observer: "The thing is that while her performances captivate us, when that kind of vulnerability is operating during the day, we'd rather not look. It's not unlike some of the art we consume: that idea that you may want the tortured artist's work on your wall, but you don't necessarily want the artist sitting on your sofa."
Another leading commentator on Irish rock, Tony Clayton-Lea, music critic for the Irish Times, talks about "a tabloid mindset which wants to portray Sinéad as a giddy banshee who continually messes up her life. At worst, she is treated almost as a figure of fun – you can sense them giggling into their iPads when they see this stuff, with a sense of glee.
"Having said that, though," he adds, "you do wonder why she allows herself to be so easily accessible to all media, not just the tabloids. Perhaps the mistake she, or her management, seem to make is that she speaks too much and too often to the media."
There is a dichotomy in O'Connor's appeal: that which compels also repels. And that dichotomy was nowhere more strident than during her initially lonely and heroic crusade against sexual abuse and its cover-up within the Catholic Church. By stroking Ireland's rawest nerve too roughly, O'Connor was reviled, and revered for her bravery. After tearing a picture of Pope John Paul II on American TV, O'Connor was cheered and booed at Madison Square Garden.
Clayton-Lea insists on "this most important aspect to Sinéad: that she was vociferous – long before it was fashionable or profitable – in highlighting the shortcomings of the Catholic church. I can't think of anyone who has addressed these socio-religious issues in such a justifiably abrasive way. Neither of the obvious people have – Bob Geldof or U2. And one could wonder – which I do, as a discerning fan – why U2, having addressed the Troubles and the drug problem in Dublin in their early music, did not engage with a topic so important to Ireland." O'Connor's website is also replete with derisive taunting of Geldof and Bono for not so doing.
During a highly revealing interview with Sean O'Hagan in this newspaper nearly a decade ago, O'Connor suggested that there was far more irony, jest and amused self-mockery in all this than might appear, in both the severity and vulgarity. Asked why she became ordained (as she did) as a Catholic "Mother" by a renegade bishop, she replied: "Mischief… Apart from the fact that I was born Catholic and I think Catholicism needs rescuing from people who have almost killed it, I think you could say there was a little mischief going on there." Going on to insist that she is "a Rasta more than a Catholic", O'Connor explains "cheerfully": "I tend to reject the negative stuff from both. I don't believe that women are unclean when they have their periods just as I don't believe they can't be priests. As a small child, I remember getting into terrible trouble for sticking up my hand and saying that God wouldn't mind if you said your prayers on the toilet."
Along the winding road of O'Connor's turbulent life is this constant: her means of communicating all this, her heart-stopping voice. Philip King is author of one of those songs O'Connor immortalised on her most famous album, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got, entitled I Am Stretched On Your Grave. He is also a friend of O'Connor. "There is no voice quite like hers," he says. "It is the most perfect of all instruments. When she sings, she goes to another place, and takes you with her – she opens herself up, and she opens you up."
King, logically, considers O'Connor's place not so much among the usual rock and roll narratives – for all her transatlantic success – but within Irish music. (Among the dross on her website are passionate invocations of "Joyce, O'Brien, Yeats, Pearse, Behan" in her challenges to fellow artists to "make way for the 2nd" Irish Republic.) "She is absolutely an Irish singer," insists King. "I don't think she would sound like that if she wasn't an Irish singer.
"On one level, in the aftermath of the peace process in the North, the crises in the church and the economy, she is among the people in the vanguard of reforging Ireland, kicking down the sandcastles. And she is also an Irish singer on that other level: in her search for authenticity, the way she sings because she has to."
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1 January 2012 10:35AM
Oh please! Take away all the studio wizardry and there's nothing there. Without the microphones it's a deeply unimpressive voice; weak, insipid and with a very limited range.
There's so much more I could say about this woman but I won't for two reasons: it's no way to start a new year and she's clearly got big problems that desperately need to be properly addressed. It would be wrong to pass judgement on the woman's behaviour but I couldn't let the comment about her fantastic voice go by without saying something. I've heard better Irish voices in my local pubs in West Kerry; no mics, no backing, just belting out a song and silencing the whole room just through the strength, delivery and quality of a truly fine voice. O'Connor wouldn't stand a chance in such an atmosphere.
1 January 2012 11:56AM
Remarkable, then, that so many other singers with the same technology at their disposal fail to sound so good.
1 January 2012 12:10PM
Not in the least bit remarkable; it just means their voices are even less impressive than hers. Obviously I wasn't comparing her voice to those who also have hi-tech studios at their disposal. I was talking about regular Irish people sounding a damn sight better with absolutely no technology whatsoever. I thought I'd made that quite clear in my original post but it seems you didn't pick up on that.
1 January 2012 12:15PM
Her voice sounds best without studio wizadry
1 January 2012 12:23PM
I trust that you have kindly uploaded these rare talents to youtube, rather than attempting to argue with something that can't be disproved?
Either way, your contention that she doesn't have a great voice is complete and utter shit.
1 January 2012 2:11PM
An incredible talent - along with bob Dylan, probably the best singer I've ever heard. Her version of Gloomy Sunday is better than Billie Holiday's, and that's saying something. Not to mention the great songs she's written.
1 January 2012 4:51PM
Sinead O'Connor's early success has been overshadowed by public meltdowns. She has sometimes seen with a shaved head. She's now had a hasty and shortlived Vegas wedding.
Has anyone ever seen Sinead and Britney in the same room at the same time?
1 January 2012 5:09PM
Good one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeIHZvZTJTg
I don't expect you to watch the whole thing, not least because I'm sure you would hate to be proved wrong, but if you do you will be.
1 January 2012 5:56PM
I did watch the whole thing and now that the annoying, tedious dirge is over I'll go back to doing something more interesting. Thanks for trying but there's no way that was going to convert me.
Anyway, trading blows with O'Connor fans is boring. Have fun shooting me down in flames because anyone daring to insult your precious idol is more than you can bear but I won't be bothering to post again. :)
1 January 2012 7:09PM
StayFree sounds like someone who proposed to her and got rejected.
Arguing about whether or not Sinead O'Connor's voice is beautiful is as pointless as arguing about whether a summer sunrise over the mountains is beautiful. I'm sure the folks in those local bars are awesome, but that doesn't take anything away from O'Connor's awesomeness. And while you spend your time judging her work as overrated, she spends her time releasing a NINTH album to enthusiastic fans. You upset? Thank goodness her priorities are different from yours.
1 January 2012 7:18PM
She once called Red Hot Chili Peppers immature. Anthony Kiedis proved her wrong by dedicating a concert to her wet pussy.
1 January 2012 9:55PM
"the owner of the country's most remarkable singing voice"
---------------------------
Luke Kelly is turning in his grave
1 January 2012 10:10PM
"On one level, in the aftermath of the peace process in the North, the crises in the church and the economy, she is among the people in the vanguard of reforging Ireland, kicking down the sandcastles. And she is also an Irish singer on that other level: in her search for authenticity, the way she sings because she has to."
Congratulations! this is the most pretentious piece of psued bullshite I have read in a long,long time.
O'conner is a joke;her latest stunt marriage would have been even beneath a contestant in the latest Big Brother series .
She is playing Manchester Cathedral soon, I expect she is planning to make some grand gesture .
If youd like to hear something really funny, check out her cd of reggae covers.
It could only be bettered if Aled Jones decided to do a similar one.
2 January 2012 2:39AM
So basically, every singer - except those you have heard in pubs in Ireland - is shit.
But to be generous, even if there are better singers in Irish pubs, in English pubs, in Swiss cafes, in German bierkellers it is all completely beside the point. The simple fact - or not - is that Sinead O'Connor has a fantastic voice. You say it is down to studio effects - yet not a single other singer, of the many thousands that have access to the same effects sounds the same. Or similar.
I would call that a unique voice.
2 January 2012 5:51AM
Yap yap yap ......zzzzz
Lets get one thing straight here; she does not create the headlines, YOU DO.
In Britain that is all your media does is create stories where they do not exist.
The problem is that you have legions of idiots who believe almost everything you print.
2 January 2012 2:42PM
I have no desire to convert you, I've heard perhaps two Sinead O'Connor albums in my life and pretty much never listen to her, I was simply addressing inaccuracy in your post. If you think her music is shite then that's a perfectly valid opinion. What the video I posted does prove is that, contrary to your post, she quite clearly doesn't have a weak, unimpressive voice.
2 January 2012 6:40PM
The advert for a man was a hoax, Ed. This was widely covered in the Irish press, and it was obvious to anyone who read it. Why are you using obviously spurious info to pad your piece? I am no fan of Sinead btw, but I despise lazy journalism.
2 January 2012 8:05PM
Damn my anti-social traits inherited from my father for my reluctance to engage with social media sites! (though I doubt things would've worked out between the four of us) :(
3 January 2012 11:39AM
This has to be tongue in cheek, surely? Bob Dylan might have written some great songs, but a great singer???
I think she's an attention seeker and needs help. If we ignore her, hopefully she will go away eventually .
3 January 2012 3:51PM
Why no mention in the article of the titular "album full of promise"? That is what her fans are interested in, not the muck-raking nonsense of the tabloids. Shoddy article.
3 January 2012 4:46PM
"Album full of promise...talent strong as ever" so sayeth the headlines. And then we get an article that barely mentions the music and sticks mostly to the tabloid stories.
In recent years yes she's more known for being a controversy dullard than anything music focused, but this article seems to have entirely stuck to that.
3 January 2012 11:27PM
Some of the reaction to David Fincher's 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' mentions that the character Lisbeth is a woman who is in desperate need of a hug. Sounds like Sinéad.