The Heartbreaking Reason Sinead OConnor Says She Keeps Her Head Shaved

Table Of Content

• Actor Mike Myers makes first public appearance in a year at AFI awards
• YouTuber breaks neck in paragliding crash and posts video of terrifying moment online
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• Sinéad O’Connor’s cause of death revealed
• Sinéad O’Connor fans gather outside late singer’s Irish home after Muslim funeral
• Sinéad O’Connor and Shane MacGowan tribute concert lineup announced
• Sinéad O'Connor shared heartbreaking reasons behind her shaved head

She converted to Islam in 2018, adopting the name Shuhada’ Sadaqat, which she used interchangeably with her birth name on social media. On her final concert tour, in 2019, she wore a hijab and abaya, but nothing else had changed – her voice still raised the hair on the back of the neck. After her time in the An Grianán training centre, she went to the liberal Newtown Quaker school. Marie O’Connor died in a car crash when Sinéad was 18, by which time she was singing in a band called Ton Ton Macoute and studying at the Dublin College of Music. 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. Sinéad died at the age of 56 after years of mental health battles, her 'devastated' family confirmed this week.

Actor Mike Myers makes first public appearance in a year at AFI awards

As a talented young singer during the' 80s, O'Connor quickly realized how much a woman's appearance impacted how she was received. But once O’Connor created this image and placed it on the public stage, other people were suddenly free to run with it, sinking their claws into it and playing with it, trying to interpret her. She became a supernatural creature (Rolling Stone) and a female version of The Sex Pistols’ Johnny Rotten (New Musical Express). With her Doc Martens, she was a little too close to the punks who flirted with fascist ideology for some; when she stenciled Public Enemy’s logo onto her head at the 1989 Grammys in solidarity with the band, she was too political for others. Prior to the release of her first album, The Lion and the Cobra, O'Connor was asked whether she would re-grow her hair 'long' and 'wear short skirts'. O'Connor also noted how it was 'dangerous to be pretty' and resulted in her 'getting raped and molested everywhere' she went.

YouTuber breaks neck in paragliding crash and posts video of terrifying moment online

“They looked at Sinead’s shaved head and went, ‘Now we know what we are dealing with,'” the star’s first husband and frequent collaborator, John Reynolds, recalled in an interview with the same outlet. Even in the few periods when she grew her hair back, she was often referred to as the “formerly bald” Sinead O’Connor. And as such, she was an integral part of the renegotiation of old stereotypes of gender, sexuality, rebellion and liberation that is still going on today. The Irish musician died on Wednesday, 26 July, after being found at her home in south east London, 18 months after losing her ‘soulmate’ teenage son Shane to suicide. A decades-old video featuring Sinéad O’Connor expertly belting out a cover song while rocking long hair rather than her signature buzz cut has resurfaced following her death aged 56.

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It was the bald head that became the avatar of a million dreamy rebellions; the shaved pate that bridged the gap between the angry and the sublime. It is almost impossible to think about Sinead O’Connor, the Irish singer whose death was reported on July 26, or her work, without thinking about her hair. The Irish singer’s shaved head was as much a part of her identity and allure as her sound. ‘I was asked one day would I grow my hair long and wear short skirts because they wanted to sell me on my sexuality. The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support.

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O'Connor's family revealed yesterday (Wednesday, 26 July) the star had passed away at the age of 56. O'Connor went on that beauty also felt "dangerous" to her as she was sexually abused. She wanted to be less feminine and "pretty" in her appearance in a bid to try to protect herself. "And she started, when I had long hair, she would introduce us as her pretty daughter and her ugly daughter. And that's why I chopped my hair off. I didn't want to be pretty," she explained. “I just don’t feel like me when I have hair,” she told The New York Times in 2021. A London coroner’s court confirmed in January that the Grammy winner’s death was due to natural causes.

In a 2017 interview with Dr. Phil, O’Connor revealed the heartbreaking reason she first opted for a short cut while growing up in Dublin. O’Connor added that the music industry also influenced her decision to keep her androgynous look. ‘It was dangerous to be pretty because I was getting raped and molested everywhere I went,’ she said. She chose to keep her hair short for the remainder of her life, speaking in 2017 about her reasons for doing so. O’Connor first shaved her head aged 20 as a way of defying the music executives who wanted her to be more feminine.

Why Sinéad O'Connor kept her head shaved throughout her life - Irish Star

Why Sinéad O'Connor kept her head shaved throughout her life.

Posted: Thu, 27 Jul 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

“Cutting my hair turned out to serve a very useful purpose,” she told a different Spin journalist in 1988. People expect to hear one thing, and what they do hear is completely different.” In other words, it was showmanship, designed to draw people in. While many have followed suit since, Irish singer Sinead O’Connor’s shaved head was arguably the most iconic hairstyle of all time.

Sinéad O'Connor's shaved head was more than a beauty choice, it was a weighted decision with multiple significant reasons behind it. "That was a huge part of it - I didn't want to be raped, I didn't want to be molested," she shared. "I did not want to dress like a girl, I did not want to be pretty. You know, other girls beat you up if you're pretty, too."

Multiple famous women have spoken out about shaving their heads as a way to free themselves from conventional beauty standards and take control over their own image. Britney Spears was reportedly "sick of people touching my hair" when she shaved her head in 2007, while Florence Pugh recently said she "wanted to take vanity out of the picture" by shaving hers earlier this year. During an interview with Dr. Phil, she candidly discussed her mental health struggles and the alleged abuse she suffered at the hands of her mother. “Nothing Compares 2 U” was originally written by Prince for his side project, The Family, and appeared on that band’s eponymous 1985 debut album. Though she’s not a professional singer, Waters appeared to be perfectly at ease as she took the stage barefoot and in a floral print dress during Wednesday’s “Sinéad & Shane at Carnegie Hall,” held in honor of O’Connor and Shane MacGowan.

The Dresden Dolls’ Amanda Palmer, who was also part of the concert’s lineup, offered high praise for Waters’ performance on Instagram. “Sing along if you like,” Waters, 28, told the crowd before launching into her mother’s classic 1990 hit. Countering that she was a “desperate attention-seeker”, Hall filed a defamation suit for $5m. The performance has been going viral on social media, with many fans showering Sinead with praise. The Nothing Compares 2 U hitmaker had a shaggy boyish hairstyle throughout the mid to late 90s, and then returned to the style again in the 2010s.

Nonetheless, it was her unswerving commitment to activism and truth-telling as she saw it that kept her in the headlines. The song remained relatively obscure until O’Connor recorded her version for her second album, “I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got,” five years later. Propelled by the now-iconic music video, it reached the top of Billboard’s Hot 100 chart in April 1990. The single’s video showed O’Connor – startlingly beautiful, hair cut to within half an inch of her head – crying real tears. The track was written by Prince, but O’Connor’s version, which displayed the clarity and expressiveness of her voice, became the definitive one, and was one of the biggest-selling singles of 1990. Its parent album, I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, sold 7m copies and was nominated for four Grammys.

Nothing Compares 2 U made her one of the highest-profile singers of the early 90s, but she was constitutionally unable to compromise her values. From the start she insisted on co-producing her records, and steered her own musical course with varying results. When seeking a new boyfriend, she invited overtures from male fans; the successful applicant, an Irish drug counsellor, Barry Herridge, became her fourth husband in 2011. If she thought it warranted, she also waded into other musicians’ business, finger-wagging. An open letter criticising Miley Cyrus for appearing naked in a 2013 video provoked a furious response from the younger singer, who said the video had been inspired by the emotional openness of Nothing Compares 2 U. It was there that she received her first guitar and a “punk-rock parka”, gifts from a sympathetic nun.

It was confirmed by O’Connor’s loved ones on Wednesday (July 26) that she had died aged 56. Following the tragic news of her death, we take a look at the real reason why she did it.