Inside Sinead O'Connor's tragic childhood and the heartbreaking reason she turned to singing
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM: The death of Irish singer Sinead O'Connor has left the entire world in mourning. The 56-year-old was discovered 'unresponsive' at a flat in south-east London after police were contacted, however, authorities are not investigating the celebrity's unexpected death as suspicious.
O'Connor shot to international fame in 1990 with her cover of Prince's international hit ballad "Nothing Compares 2 U", which topped charts all over the world. But in a devastating final interview shot before her shocking death on Wednesday, she admitted that she did not enter into music for fame but rather as a form of therapy.
Why did Sinead O'Connor get into music?
People are aware of Sinead O'Connor's rise to stardom, but she unexpectedly admitted in her final interview before her death on Wednesday that she turned to music to cope with the anguish brought on by her mother's abuse, reports The Mirror. She stated, "There was no therapy when I was growing up, so the reason I got into music was therapy. Which is why it was such a shock for me to become a pop star. It's not what I wanted. I just wanted to scream."
'Everybody in music has a story'
O'Connor, one of five children, spoke up about experiencing physical abuse at the hands of her mother, who died in a vehicle accident in 1985. She was admitted to a Magdalene asylum at the age of 15 for theft and truancy. The singer said, "Everybody in music has a story in terms of their upbringing, or where they came from or what they went through." She added, "You know there is something they need to get off their chest, and perhaps we all need a bit of love and affection that we didn't get anywhere else, but we get by making music."
O'Connor always aspired to be a protest singer rather than a pop star, despite her phenomenal musical success; and throughout the years, she developed a reputation as someone who was vocal about her social and political opinions. Before the awful news of her death, a Sky documentary about O'Connor called 'Nothing Compares' was set to air on July 29. In it, the singer discusses her childhood hardship and how music evolved into a form of therapy for her. In the episode, she recalls how, when she was just eight years old, her mother once made her live in their yard "24/7 for a week or two," and how she would be "screaming, begging her to let me in." Her 1987 debut album, 'The Lion and the Cobra', contains the song "Troy", which is reported to have been inspired by this encounter.