Tributes have poured in for “radical and incredible” Sinéad O’Connor after the Irish singer’s death at 56.

Her family announced the death with great sadness on Wednesday. The cause of death was not made public.

The Grammy-winning singer shot to international stardom in 1990 with the hit ballad ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’, and released 10 studio albums between 1987 and 2014.

She had a difficult childhood, being placed as a teenager in Dublin in one of the notorious former Magdalene laundries, originally set up to incarcerate young girls deemed to be promiscuous.

A protester against child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, in 1992 she faced controversy after ripping up a picture of Pope John Paul II on US TV show Saturday Night Live.

Personal tragedy overshadowed her life with her 17-year-old son Shane found dead in January of last year. In one of her final tweets, she called him:

“The love of my life, the lamp of my soul”.
Sinéad O’Connor

Moyet paid tribute to O’Connor’s:

“Astounding presence and voice that cracked stone with force by increment. As beautiful as any girl around and never traded on that card. I loved that about her. Iconoclast”.
Moyet

US singer-songwriter and pianist Tori Amos remembered;

“such passion, such intense presence, and a beautiful soul, who battled her own personal demons courageously”.
Tori Amos

Belfast filmmaker Kathryn Ferguson said she was “devastated” by the news as she had been working on a documentary film about O’Connor, called Nothing Compares, which is set to be released this Saturday.

She said:

“My father introduced me to Sinéad’s music in the late ’80s. Her album, the Lion and the Cobra, was played on repeat as we drove around Belfast… And it became this visceral soundtrack to my early childhood. And then, in the early ’90s, my friends and I felt like we really discovered her for a second time, and could really see how she looked, and heard what she had to say. And she became this huge icon of ours and someone we were so proud of, and that she was from Ireland. So she had a huge impact on me as a young Irish teenager. She is one of the most radical, incredible musicians that we’ve had. And we were very, very lucky to have had her”.
Kathryn Ferguson

Political figures also paid tribute to O’Connor, including Irish President, Michael D Higgins. He said:

“One couldn’t but always be struck by the depth of her fearless commitment to the important issues which she brought to public attention”.
Irish President, Michael D Higgins

Sinéad O’Connor: A talent beyond compare

Sinéad O’Connor saw music as the therapy to escape a turbulent childhood.

Her rebellious nature was mainly driven by resentment at the abuse she suffered as a child.

It was music that rescued her, unleashing a creative talent that made her a worldwide music star – but also a rebel prepared to be controversial and never play the game of being an image-led pop star.

Sinéad Marie Bernadette O’Connor was born on 8 December 1966 in the affluent Glenageary suburb of Dublin.

She was the third of five children of Sean O’Connor and his wife Marie. The couple had married young and their relationship, often stormy, ended when Sinéad was eight.

Her brother, Joseph, once described their mother as deeply unhappy and disturbed and prone to physical and emotional abuse of her children.

O’Connor eventually moved out to go and live with her father and at 16, her father moved her to a boarding school in Waterford where a teacher recognized her talent and helped her produce a demo tape featuring two of her own compositions.

Eventually, she moved to London and found herself an experienced manager in Fachtna Ó Ceallaigh, who had previously worked for U2.

She also fell out with the producer who had been brought in to mastermind her first album. After much persuasion, the record company allowed her to produce it herself. By this time she was seven months pregnant by her session drummer, John Reynolds, whom she went on to marry.

The success of her first album ‘The Lion and the Cobra’ made her a huge concert draw. It earned a Grammy nomination for best female rock vocal performance. Her second album ‘I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got’ won her a Grammy which featured her most successful single, a cover of the Prince song ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’.

It was helped to the top of the charts in the UK, Ireland, and the US by a striking video that largely featured a close-up of her face as she sang.

She surprised many by being ordained as a priest and at her best she was an artist of real talent.