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Just announced, quite the shocker:

RTE news : Singer Sinéad O'Connor dies aged 56

Awfully young.

It doesn't say why, but one fears the worst. So sad. Such a talent.

Ireland has been awash with memorials,obituaries and assorted outpourings of grief, love and appreciation. I won't add to that here.

Anyhow, another thread has sprung up here, well intentioned but the initial news item it links to has a tail of sensationalist sh*t YouTube will throw up if you let it. And that defeats the purpose of that thread.

I add a slightly more curated choice here:

Mandinka

Troy

Nothing compares 2U - live

With Terry Hall : All kinds of everything

Fire on Babylon

With Peter Gabriel : Don't give up - live

With the Chieftains - The Foggy Dew

Chiquitita

With Kris Kristofferson - Help me make it through the night

The times they are a changing

Molly Malone

With Shane McGowan : Haunted

The last day of our acquaintance

Danny Boy _ Late Late Show

Thank you for hearing me

Nothing compares 2U RTE Late Late Show 2019

And, as a sign left at one of the memorials said: 'Sinéad, we heard you'

RTE live coverage of funeral, taking place in Bray today[/url]

Mr.Gumby wrote: ↑Tue Aug 01, 2023 4:54 am
Nothing compares 2U - live

That is my favorite for showing what her voice could do. Stunning.

kkrell wrote: ↑Tue Aug 08, 2023 5:49 am
That is my favorite for showing what her voice could do. Stunning.

The clips were meant to show different sides, the variety of songs she could handle. That one does have a big emotional impact. But there's something in all of them, beauty, power, heart-rending vulnerability and always great humanity.

I came across this one yesterday:

There's a clip where Imelda May speaks about how the performance below came about. She was about to perform, things in her life weren't going too well but she had the smiley face on. Before the performance she went around to say hello to the other performers. Sinead O'Connor immediately picked up May was troubled and on the spot decided to drop the song she had planned and to do this one together, without preparation. This is what happened:


with Imelda May : Every night about this time


I'll leave this thread after the following: on the first of February 2020 O'Connor appeared on the Tommy Tiernan show. The shtick of the show is that Tiernan does not know who he will be talking to on the programme. This can make for great conversations that can go anywhere. You get the odd disaster as well.
Anyhow, Sinéad O Connor was on good form chatting openly about herself and what she was at:

on RTE's Tommy Tiernan show

I remember seeing this on television at the time and thinking she had found some equilibrium in her life. And then the most heartbreaking that can happen to any parent happened to her. It would be hard for anyone to come back from that.

Make me a channel of your peace / Thank you for hearing me

I thought I was long done with this thread but driving yesterday morning around the backroads of West Clare, Noirín ní Riain was being interviewed on the radio. All other things aside, there was one little bit where she spoke of how she was contacted by Sinead O'Connor during the nineties. O'Connor was looking for lessons in Gregorian chant, which ní Riain provided. Ní R. was living at Glenstal abbey at the time and the tuition took place there. She was astounded by O'Connor's singing abilities, she'd sing a phrase or indeed a whole chant and O'Connor would sing it back to her, without any flaws. Ní Riain remembered her as the best student she ever had.

This all came as a surprise to me and once again it was a sign of O'Connor's versatility and wide interests as a singer.

A recording of them singing with the monks of Glenstal Abbey was made at the time, O'Connor appearing on it (for contractual reasons) as Marie Bernadette O'Connor.

This piece Regina Caeli was played on the radio. It was recorded by one of the monks during a practice session in the Abbey, Ní Riain and O'Connor sang it in one go, no retakes.