Thousands gathered outside Sinead O'Connor's former seaside home on Tuesday to bid farewell to the outspoken Irish rock star, some singing along to hits blasted from a vintage Volkswagen camper van, others showering her hearse with flowers.
O'Connor, best known for the 1990 chart-topping hit "Nothing Compares 2 U" and her controversial but often prescient views on religion, sex and feminism, died on July 26 aged 56 after police found her unresponsive at an address in London.
Crowds gathered along the seafront at Bray, just south of Dublin, clapped and cheered as O'Connor's coffin passed in a hearse. Driving ahead, the VW van was decked out with a rainbow flag and blared Bob Marley's "Natural Mystic" from speakers secured to the roof.
"I think she had the courage to say a lot of things that we all felt," said Gemma Byrne, 47, who took a 90-minute train from the town of Drogheda to pay her respects.
"She represented our transition from a very dark past into a hopeful future and I'm just here to say thanks for being with me along that journey, and for maybe putting words and expression on what I felt but didn't quite know how to say."
Two of Byrne's friends held a large red flag reading "Thank You Sinead." Others stood with buggies and dogs, some climbed up on walls to get a better view, and locals watched from balconies overlooking the strand.
One fan held a black-and-white photo of O'Connor with the words "Fight The Real Enemy," the declaration the singer famously made after ripping up of a photo of Pope John Paul II during a 1992 television appearance on "Saturday Night Live."
O'Connor's music was played from the VW van outside her former home, which has become a focal point for fans since her death.
"Sinead loved living in Bray and the people in it," her family said a statement inviting the public to gather before her private burial. Irish President Michael D. Higgins and prime minister Leo Varadkar joined O'Connor's family at a private funeral service, state broadcaster RTE reported.
"With this procession, her family would like to acknowledge the outpouring of love for her from the people of Co. Wicklow and beyond, since she left to go to another place."
Tiana Kelleher said she brought her 4-year old son Leon to show him what the singer meant to the people of Ireland.
"Sinead O'Connor was a very sensitive soul but was very strong for other like her," said Kelleher, 30, who moved to Dublin from New York with her husband Stephen last year.
"She spoke to something that everyone who has gone through some suffering can relate to."
© Thomson Reuters 2023.
18 Comments
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dagon
Very prescient, she was an early victim of conservative culture wars meant to distract from their real sinister agenda and rampant projection.
Rest in Power.
Mr Kipling
She spoke out about the abuse in the Catholic church which was good but can anyone name any of her songs apart from the one that made her famous?
bass4funk
No, the demons that she had were her own sad, and very tragic trauma she had to endure growing up and beyond something she could never truly shake.
That is a completely different topic altogether unrelated to O’Connor’s life
Rest in Power.
starpunk
I had a serious relationship in college with a GF who suffered from bipolar ever since she was 14 years old. It is a devastating disease and she had to endure a lot of abuse, neglect, misunderstandings and crap from many idiots, users and 'know-it-alls' who knew nothing about her condition or her life and didn't even try to.
Me and her parted ways amicably in the mid 90s but I never forgot her. I saw her obit in late December 2016, she took her life on Christmas Eve and the full gravity hit me as if Mt. Denali had fallen on me.
I loved her so much and I always will but I was so helpless, then and now. I couldn't help, heal or save her.
Bipolar makes its victims do some extravagant things, they know not what they do. Granted, Sinead has said and done some things that were provocative, offensive (to some) and downright stupid an her bipolar is not an excuse. As for tarnishing her legacy of talent as an excellent singer and musician, she did that by all the dumb and outrageous things she did, no doubt to get attention (and plenty of ridicule).
As for suicide, the depressed stages can be so severe that the victims like Sinead or Naomi Judd or my old college GF may see no other solution, it's tunnel vision at best. They take what they see as the only way out.
When I saw my old GF in the funeral home, I kneeled and prayed to God to forgive her because she didn't know what she was doing. Even now after over 6 years her burial site doesn't have a gravestone because her family didn't/doesn't give a DAMN.
At least Sinead's site will. And I hope this might be a wake-up call to start addressing mental disorders more seriously. They're more common than most people want to admit. Her talents were wasted and it's tragic but the fickle public's indifference didn't help matters either. She was the first Next Big Thing/New Sensation of the 90s and the post-Cold War era. That decade ended musically with sex robot pop tarts, boy bands, turgid 'nu-metal', phony corporate 'punk', new age and other garbage.
Sinead has certainly helped place Ireland firmly on the rock'n'roll map, paving the way for success for fellow Irish rockers like the Hothouse Flowers, the Cranberries and more. As well as a cultural vogue for many things 'Irish' like 'Riverdance' (good), new age Enya (zzzz) and Roma Downey's new age 'Touched By an Angel' on TV (rubbish). At least the Greatest Irish Export is still with us, that being U2.
RIP Sinead. You were sick all along but I hope God forgives you for the dumb and silly things you did and this moronic world used for childish gabby fodder. We all do dumb things and nobody can touch or mess with you now. Have a happy and better afterlife.
buchailldana
Shocked by the first comment here.
Such little understanding of a human being.
The abuse she suffered as a child was just horrendous and coupled with later tragedy was just too much for her tortured soul.
She was/ is loved by the Irish.
A true legend.
MilesTeg
Yeah she had trouble with her family but she also spent almost 2yrs in a catholic youth detention centre. You're not aware of the vatican and catholic church's track record in Ireland and elsewhere when it came to children under their care? So it wasn't necessarily her 'own' trauma. Thousands of others shared her experience.
MilesTeg
Good for one person doesn't translate as good for others. If you're 'sincerely' interested in her music, why haven't you listened to any of her music by now.
Alan
Mr Kippling,
You obviously haven't listened to one of her other big hits Mandinka.
Please take the time to listen to this song and amazing range of vocals .
Mr Kipling
Alan...
You are correct. But I have now.
Correct again! I have a long drive this weekend so will be downloading some Sinead O'Connor for the ride.
Marr Bourdein
I grew up listening to her music but I have to warn all new listeners... it's not for everyone. Her music is unique to say the least. Can bit too sad or emotional for my ears.
Dango bong
overrated singer who had to pull stunts to get attention
WA4TKG
Bye, I hope God isn't mad at you about that picture episode you pulled.
MilesTeg
Why would god be angry at her for exposing priests who sexually and physically abused children? You realize the vatican and catholic church knew what was happening but did nothing allowing the abuse to continue for decades. They then denied it, claimed the children lied, and tried to cover it up.
She was right and had the guts to speak out at a time most didn't know what was going on including me. She then had to endure abuse and derision for a long time. In your religious zealousness, not surprisingly, you've managed to twist the truth.
Fighto!
Tell us that you support those priests without actually telling us. If there were a hell, that's where all those scum ended up burning.
She was before her time. To speak against the catholic church in Ireland 35 years ago, to state - correctly - that many of their leaders were pedophiles and criminals, was unheard of.
Rest in Power, Sinead.
TheDalaiLamasBifocals
I think she was a complicated soul who tried to console herself in religion, but was ultimately destroyed by it
The suicide of her son was probably the biggest factor in the end.
I met her at a traditional music festival in Ireland once. She was there with Enya - probably researching her Sean-Nós Nua album at the time.
I only spoke a few words with her, but she seemed very quiet and humble - not the firebrand she was often portrayed as.
albaleo
She sang a love song of a kind that has stayed in my mind. (It may not sound so sweet to some.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbre5Fs9m8I
bass4funk
Oh, I was very aware.
Well, mostly it was her own in the sense of being bipolar, there is now a lot of research that shows us now that it can be genetic and even passed down. I’m not saying this is exactly and concretely the case, but the woman has had quite a few emotional and mental episodes, so I am not implying she didn’t have trauma from her religious upbringing in some form that may very well be true, but I definitely think there was a lot more mentally and genetically wrong with her and you could see that back in the late 80’s already.
Sure, but everyone’s personal experience will vary from person to person.