Sinéad O’Connor has passed away at 56 years old. The Dublin-born singer’s death was first reported by The Irish Times on Wednesday afternoon (July 26) and later included a statement from her family, reading, “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinéad. Her family and friends are devastated and have requested privacy at this very difficult time.”
The London Inner South Coroner’s Court has since confirmed O’Connor was found “unresponsive” at her London home and “pronounced dead at the scene,” as reported by the BBC. An autopsy will be performed to determine O’Connor’s official cause of death.
On Wednesday night, Pink brought her recently launched Summer Carnival tour to Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, Ohio, and used the stage to honor O’Connor alongside Brandi Carlile, one of her tour openers.
“When I was a little girl, my mom grew up in Atlantic City and I used to go down to the Ocean City Boardwalk with my $10 and I would make a demo tape,” Pink told the crowd (as relayed by Billboard). “I would make a little cassette tape and imagine it was my demo for the record company.”
She continued, “And it would always be either ‘Greatest Love of All’ by Whitney Houston or ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ by Sinéad O’Connor. So in honor of Sinéad, and in honor of my very, very talented friend Brandi Carlile I asked her if she would come out here and sing this song with me.”
Someone in attendance captured the moment and posted video to Twitter:
https://twitter.com/KarenBoston/status/1684413157496745985?s=20
Carlile and Pink also posted about O’Connor in their respective Instagram Stories. Carlile posted a black-and-white throwback portrait of her with the message, “She was right the whole time. I hope she found peace,” as well as video of her duet with Pink alongside the note, “Bittersweet moment.”
Meanwhile, Pink resurfaced her performance of “Nothing Compares 2 U” for the BBC Radio 2 Piano Room from earlier this year.
O’Connor cracked No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks in 1990 with “Nothing Compares 2 U,” a power ballad written by Prince. (Prince’s estate denied the use of the song in O’Connor’s documentary last fall.)
In January 2022, O’Connor shared that her 17-year-old son, Shane, died by suicide. She reportedly admitted herself to hospital the following week after expressing suicidal ideation online.
Most recently, on July 17, an unverified Twitter account linked to O’Connor’s professional account wrote, “Been living as undead night creature since. He was the love of my life, the lamp of my soul. We were one soul in two halves. He was the only person who ever loved me unconditionally. I am lost in the bardo without him.”
