Text by by Dawoud Kringle
Wednesday, July 26th, 2023, iconic Irish singer Sinead O’Conner died.
DooBeeDoo and MFM salutes the memory of Shuhada Sadaqat / Sinead O’Connor; an artist with immense talent, and a woman of powerful convictions and sufficient courage to stand by both. Her example as an artist and activist stands as an object lesson for us all.
O’Connor was born in Dublin Ireland on December 8th 1966. In 1979, O’Connor left her mother and went to live with her father in Alexandria, VA. At the age of 15, her shoplifting and truancy led to her being placed for 18 months in a Magdalene Asylum (a kind of Catholic reform school for young women who became pregnant outside of marriage, or young girls and teenagers who did not have familial support). While she disliked the conformity imposed upon her, and struggled with a great deal of family problems, she used her time to develop her songwriting.