Sinead O’Connor shared how she had been living as an ‘undead night creature’ since her son’s suicide last year in a cryptic final Twitter post before her death.
Ms O’Connor has apparently struggled with mental health issues since her son Shane, 17, took his own life in January 2022 after escaping hospital while on suicide watch.
Last week, in what appears to be her final post, the singer hailed Shane as the ‘love of her life’ and the ‘only person who ever loved me unconditionally’, adding that she felt ‘lost’ without him.
The mother-of-four also posted a series of Spotify links to relatively sad and heart breaking songs, including one she dedicated to ‘all mothers of Suicided children’.
The Irish singer has died at the age of 56, a statement from her family confirmed. Her loved ones have requested privacy and did not disclose a cause of death.
Sinead O’Connor (pictured in 1990) shared how she had been living as an ‘undead night creature’ since her son’s suicide last year in a cryptic final Twitter post
Ms O’Connor has apparently struggled with mental health issues since her son Shane, 17, took his own life in January 2022 after escaping hospital while on suicide watch. She posted this photo with her son last week
In what appears to be her final video, Ms O’Connor told her Twitter followers: ‘I didn’t want to make a video. But you know, the way your kid unfortunately passing away – it isn’t good for one’s body. Or soul to be fair’
Replying to a tweet asking people to describe their life using emojis, Ms O’Connor posted a slew of crying emojis alongside a photo of her and Shane.
Reiterating how she lost her 17-year-old to suicide just last year, the musician penned on July 17: ‘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.’
The emotional tribute was followed by four tweets that linked to songs she was likely listening to, including Chenrezi by Ani Choying Drolma and Steve Tibbetts – which Ms O’Connor dedicated to other grieving mothers.
She also posted links to How Can You Mend a Broken Heart by Al Green, as well as Curtis Mayfield’s Here but I’m Gone and No One Knows About a Good Thing.
Sinead O’Connor receives the Classic Irish Album award for I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got earlier this year in Dublin
Replying to a tweet asking people to describe their life using emojis, Ms O’Connor posted a slew of crying emojis alongside a photo of her and Shane
The emotional tribute to Shane was followed by four tweets that linked to songs she was likely listening to
Ireland mourns Sinead O’Connor: READ MORE
Sinead O’Connor has died at the age of 56
Ms O’Connor launched a new Twitter account earlier this month, telling her followers: ‘Hello my twitter family. Please find here below my new twitter account. Looking forward. Sinead.’
It came after she had seemingly limited her use of the platform, having posted to her @SineadOConnor profile only a few times this year.
She appeared to be quite active on her new account, @7860mShahid, writing several tweets about the healing process.
Her first post on the account read: ‘Never forget who helped you in a difficult time.’
She also responded to a user who asked: ‘Can we talk about how healing makes you become uninterested in like everyone and everything.’
‘Only while you’re healing … once you’re healed it’s a whole different kettle of horses,’ Ms O’Connor answered back.
On July 8 she also gave her followers a life update, telling them she had moved back to London after ’23 years absence’ and said she was ‘very happy to be home’.
At the time of her death, Ms O’Connor (pictured in 2012 with her dog) was thought to be spending her time between Co Roscommon, Ireland, and London. She is survived by her three children
The singer (pictured in 1990) was known to have had years of mental health battles before her death was reported last night
Seemingly excited, she shared how she was ‘soon finishing my album’ and planned to release it early next year.
She added: ‘Hopefully Touring Australia and New Zealand toward end 2024. Europe, USA and other territories beginning early 2025.’
She also shared a video of herself in her flat to ‘prove identity’ after her followers questioned the validity of the account.
‘I look like s**t,’ she told the camera. ‘I didn’t want to make a video. But you know, the way your kid unfortunately passing away – it isn’t good for one’s body. Or soul to be fair.’
She showed her followers her flat, a bouquet of flowers a friend had gifted her earlier that day and her new guitar which she looked forward to using to ‘write some tunes’.
Ms O’Connor shot to stardom across the world in 1990 by her heartrending cover of Prince’s Nothing Compares 2 U.
At the time of her death, the musician, who changed her name to Shuhada’ Sadaqat in 2018 when she converted to Islam, was thought to be spending her time between Co Roscommon, Ireland, and London.
She appeared to be quite active on her new account, @7860mShahid, writing several tweets about the healing process. Her first post on the account read: ‘Never forget who helped you in a difficult time’
She also responded to a user who asked: ‘Can we talk about how healing makes you become uninterested in like everyone and everything’
On July 8 she also gave her followers a life update, telling them she had moved back to London after ’23 years absence’ and said she was ‘very happy to be home’
Ms O’Connor was born into a troubled family in Dublin on December 8, 1966.
Later in her life she claimed she started having mental health issues because her mother physically and sexually abused her as a child.
She was placed in corrective school aged 15 after bouts of stealing. An Grianán Training Centre, in Dublin was previously a notorious Magdalene laundry for ‘fallen women’.
Although Ms O’Connor said it was no longer an abusive place, she said being kept away from her family was upsetting.
However, one of the nuns there spotted her musical talent and bought her a guitar and pushed her to have lessons.
Through an advert in a Dublin music magazine she met Colm Farrelly and together formed the band Ton Ton Macoute, which brought Ms O’Connor to the attention of the global music industry.
After signing with Ensign Records she released her first album, I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got in 1990, which sold more than seven million copies and included her breakthrough hit Nothing Compares 2 U.
Sinead O’Connor is pictured on stage at the Olympic Ballroom in 1988
The iconic music video for Ms O’Connor’s version of the Prince song focused almost entirely on a close-up frame of the shaven-headed star singing with tears rolling down her cheeks.
Although Prince publicly praised her version of the song, in various interviews and remarks over the years Ms O’Connor claimed the American artist was furious at her success, and had summoned her to his property in Hollywood for a dressing down.
She at various times claimed that Prince’s butler had pressured her to eat soup against her will, and that Prince had challenged her to a pillow fight, but then assaulted her with a hard object concealed in the pillow.
In the years after her breakthrough she wrote other hits including You Made Me The Thief Of Your Heart – for the soundtrack of Daniel Day-Lewis film In the Name of the Father – Drink Before The War and This Is The Day.
She released 10 studio albums in her career, and Nothing Compares 2 U was named the number one world single in 1990 by the Billboard Music Awards.
Long known as much for her shaved head and outspoken views on religion, sex, feminism and war as for her music, she will be remembered in some quarters for ripping up a photo of Pope John Paul II during a television appearance on Saturday Night Live in 1992.
However, the incident was far from the only controversy in Ms O’Connor’s career.
In 1989 she declared her support for the Irish Republican Army, a statement she retracted a year later. Around the same time, she skipped the Grammy ceremony, saying it was too commercialized.
She also feuded with Frank Sinatra over her refusal to allow the playing of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ at one of her shows.
In a statement, the musician’s family said: ‘It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinéad’. Ms O’Connor is pictured in February 2020
Sinead O’Connor performs during the August 2013 Inter-Celtic Festival of Lorient in France
Ms O’Connor was public about her mental illness, saying that she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
She posted a Facebook video in 2017 from a New Jersey motel where she had been living, saying that she was staying alive for the sake of others and that if it were up to her, she’d be ‘gone.’
When her teenage son Shane died by suicide last year, O’Connor tweeted there was ‘no point living without him’ and was soon hospitalized.
In a statement today, the musician’s family said: ‘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 singer-songwriter is survived by her three children.
- For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see www.samaritans.org for details
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