Sinéad O’Connor funeral: Ireland’s rock royalty join final farewell (2024)

There was Nothing Compares 2 U, of course. But not just because it was the song that made Sinéad O’Connor famous: with its talk of how “it’s been so lonely without you here”, Prince’s song of heartbreak could just as easily have been written for a funeral. “Nothing can take away these blues.”

Just as O’Connor was no ordinary rock star, her funeral was no ordinary funeral.

It was held in the Irish seaside town of Bray in Co Wicklow that used to be her home, where thousands of fans had gathered to pay their respects. Some had flown from as far as the US to be there.

O’Connor was remembered at a private service featuring Islamic prayers that was attended by stars including Bob Geldof and Bono as well President Higgins and Leo Varadkar, the taoiseach. O’Connor, who was often sharply critical of the Roman Catholic faith into which she was born, converted to Islam in 2018.

As the hearse was driven from the funeral, strewn with flowers thrown by people standing by the roadside, it was preceded by a Volkswagen camper van blaring out O’Connor’s hits.

The cortège stopped outside O’Connor’s former home where the camper van, driven and organised by her music producer friends, played Bob Marley’s Natural Mystic. The crowd burst into spontaneous applause.

A pink chair had been placed on the steps outside the house, where O’Connor used to sit and talk to passers-by during the Covid-19 pandemic. Fans posed for pictures next to the pink conservatory, where a framed photograph of O’Connor had been placed on the chair.

Sheikh Dr Umar Al-Qadri, chief imam at the Islamic Centre of Ireland who delivered O’Connor’s funeral prayer, said she “never moved away from God”, unlike others who have “difficulties and trials” in their lives.

Al-Qadri said: “The funeral was obviously private [for] the family and it was a very moving ceremony and I think it really reflected the beautiful personality of Sinéad. It was very spiritual and it reflected her Irish identity as well as her Muslim identity . . . We performed the Janazah prayer, which is the Islamic funeral prayer, over Sinéad.”

• Sinéad O’Connor obituary

Al-Qadri, who helped to convert O’Connor to Islam — changing her name in the process to Shuhada’ Davitt, later Shuhada Sadaqat — added: “She was an amazing human being who was not just a great musician, artist, but one that would reach hearts of millions of people because of her voice but also because of the amazing content.

“Whatever she said had a deep meaning. She had always had strong faith and conviction in God and that is what motivated her to study theology.

“She studied different faiths, religions and essentially, when she studied Islam it was for her like, ‘This was the religion I was always looking for. This was exactly the faith I was always looking for. I was always a Muslim, but I never realised.’ ”

Higgins said the reaction to O’Connor’s death demonstrated “the profound impact she had on the Irish people”.

He said: “The unique contribution of Sinéad involved the experience of a great vulnerability combined with a superb, exceptional level of creativity that she chose to deliver through her voice, her music and her songs.”

This made her unique contribution “phenomenal in music terms, but of immense heroism”, he said. “However, achieving this came from the one heart and the one body and the one life, which extracted an incredible pain, perhaps one too much to bear.”

Ruth O’Shea, who was among the fans who came to pay their respects, said: “She was so rebellious and empowering and inspiring, and my mother hated me listening to her music.

“I loved her — and then the kids, I suppose by osmosis because I played her, when they were both growing up, they’d go, ‘Oh God, Mom’s listening to Sinéad O’Connor, she’s obviously had a rough day.’ ”

Sara Mohamed, said: “As an Irish Muslim, I felt that I should be here on behalf of my community to pay my respects to the Irish legend she was.”

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