Irish singer Sinéad O’Connor has died at the age of 56, the Irish Times reported on Wednesday.
The news comes just one year after her 17-year-old son, Shane, died by suicide. O’Connor is survived by her three children: Jake, Roisin and Yeshua.
Born in Dublin, O’Connor released her debut album The Lion and the Cobra in 1987 and quickly rose to international success. Her sophomore album featured her single “Nothing Compares 2 U,” which was named the No. 1 world single in 1990 by the Billboard Music Awards and further launched O’Connor’s career.
O’Connor went on to release 10 studio albums. She was often outspoken on spiritualism, activism and her mental health.
One of the most memorable moments in O’Connor’s occurred during her 1992 appearance on Saturday Night Live. At the end of her cover of Bob Marley’s “War,” O’Connor help up a photo of Pope John Paul II, tore it pieces and yelled, “Fight the real enemy.”
In a documentary film released on last year, “Nothing Compares,” O’Connor said she did it as a protest against child abuse and its coverup in the Catholic Church. The photo, she explained, had hung in her mother’s house throughout her childhood. She associated the picture with child abuse because her mother had physically and emotionally abused her.
