Some people are simply born with a rebellious streak; a tendency to speak their mind. As a public figure who caused controversy wherever she went, the Irish singer, who died earlier this year aged 56, was certainly one of those people. And as a teenager coming of age in a conservative Ireland and grappling with her parents’ divorce, that wild streak soon got her into trouble.

After bouts of shoplifting and truancy, she was considered unmanageable at home. Her father sent the 15-year-old to live at a training centre connected to one of the Magdalene laundries, an asylum for ‘fallen women’ run by Catholic sisters. These childhood experiences had a profound effect on O’Connor. She later revealed the abuse she suffered at the hands of her mother and the psychological impact of living at the centre, saying: "My mother was a beast. But I was able to soothe her with my voice. I was able to make the devil fall asleep.”

It was her mother's extensive music collection that inspired her to sing in the first place. Growing up, she devoured everything from John Lennon to light opera and musicals, and later became obsessed with Bob Dylan. But this early musical interest ran parallel to her commitment to her religion. She'd grown up under the weight of strict Catholicism and eventually took Holy Communion.

Back then, anything outside of the narrow view of the Catholic church was frowned upon, but when a supportive music teacher at the training centre picked up on O'Connor’s obvious musical talent, the sisters allowed her to pursue singing and songwriting. Later in her career, the parallels between her teen years in the centre and life in the music industry would become painfully obvious.

Discovering her unique sound and style

By 18 years old, O'Connor was free to leave the centre. She was already showing songwriting potential and joined a local band – Ton Ton Macoute – as a vocalist. But after attracting the attention of Ensign Records, she headed to London to cut demos as a solo artist with her own band. And in the bustling, multi-cultural capital, she discovered and fell in love with the music and rebellious attitude of Rastafari culture, spending time on Portobello Road.

Comfortable with her band and confident in the musical sound she wanted to explore, O'Connor was soon working on her first fully fledged album for Ensign Records. But the label had started pressuring her to grow her hair long and wear heels. Of course, Sinéad had no intention of conforming; it felt ridiculous to play dress-up as a glamourous popstar given her upbringing in a troubled Ireland.

As an act of defiance, she shaved off all her hair. This simultaneously made a powerful statement to her record label whilst also birthing the striking, androgynous look that became her trademark. “Her image screamed more than feminism, beyond feminism,” the musician Peaches explained in the 2022 documentary ‘Nothing Compares’. “Her fashion was 30 years ahead of the time.”

The relationship between O'Connor and Ensign Records soon soured even more, when the singer became pregnant and the label attempted to persuade her to terminate the pregnancy. This was the final straw for O’Connor, who kicked back at the label and decided to scrap the album recordings they’d done so far and start again from scratch. These new recordings became her debut album – the biblically titled 'The Lion and The Cobra' – which included much-loved tracks like 'Troy' and early radio-hit 'Mandinka', as well as a spoken-word intro by Enya.


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