Morrissey SLAMS celebrity tributes to Sinead O’Connor following her death aged 56: ‘You hadn’t the guts to support her when she was alive’
Morrissey has ripped into musicians, celebrities and music industry figures paying tribute to Sinead O’Connor after her death at the age of 56.
The Irish singer’s death was confirmed in a statement shared by her family, who said they were ‘devastated’ by her passing.
Morrissey, 64, published a note on his website criticising the response to Sinead’s death, asking where was the support for her while she was still alive.
Sharing a post called ‘You Know I Couldn’t Last’, the musician wrote: ‘She was dropped by her label after selling 7 million albums for them.
‘She became crazed, yes, but uninteresting, never. She had done nothing wrong.
Statement: Morrissey has ripped into musicians, celebrities and music industry figures paying tribute to Sinead O’Connor after her death at the age of 56
Tragedy: The Irish singer’s death was confirmed in a statement shared by her family, who said they were ‘devastated’ by her passing
‘She had proud vulnerability … and there is a certain music industry hatred for singers who don’t ‘fit in’ (this I know only too well), and they are never praised until death – when, finally, they can’t answer back.
‘You praise her now ONLY because it is too late. You hadn’t the guts to support her when she was alive and she was looking for you.’
Morrissey then likened Sinead’s death to those of other female stars including Amy Winehouse and Judy Garland.
He wrote: ‘Why is ANYBODY surprised that Sinead O’Connor is dead?
‘Who cared enough to save Judy Garland, Whitney Houston, Amy Winehouse, Marilyn Monroe, Billie Holiday? Where do you go when death can be the best outcome? Was this music madness worth Sinead’s life?
‘No, it wasn’t.
‘She was a challenge, and she couldn’t be boxed-up, and she had the courage to speak when everyone else stayed safely silent.
‘She was harassed simply for being herself. Her eyes finally closed in search of a soul she could call her own.’
Speaking out: Morrissey, 64, published a note on his website criticising the response to Sinead’s death, asking where was the support for her while she was still alive (pictured in 2014)
He wrote: ‘You praise her now ONLY because it is too late. You hadn’t the guts to support her when she was alive and she was looking for you’
Sinead revealed she was living like an ‘undead night creature’ since her son’s suicide last year in a poignant and desperate final Twitter post shortly before her death.
The star had struggled with mental health issues since her son Shane, 17, took his own life in January 2022 after escaping hospital while on suicide watch, comparing her existence to being in purgatory.
She said: ‘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’.
Sinéad also posted a series of Spotify links to sad songs, including one she dedicated to ‘all mothers of suicided children’. 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.
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.’ Bardo is a Buddhist term for a state of existence between death and rebirth, similar to purgatory.
Morrissey also wrote: ‘She was harassed simply for being herself. Her eyes finally closed in search of a soul she could call her own’ (Sinead pictured in 2014)
Family: Sinead had 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
Sinead 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.
Sinead was born into a troubled family in Dublin on December 8, 1966.
Ireland mourns Sinead O’Connor: READ MORE
Sinead O’Connor has died at the age of 56
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.
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.
Sinead 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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