By her own account, the childhood of the musician Sinéad O’Connor, who has died aged 56, was more than usually difficult: her parents split when she was young and, against her wishes, she was sent to live with her mother, who she said physically abused her and encouraged her to shoplift. The stealing led to the 14-year-old Sinéad spending 18 months at a training centre that had previously been one of Dublin’s notorious church-affiliated Magdalene laundries.
Although she was unhappy, O’Connor credited it with saving her life. It was there that she received her first guitar and a “punk-rock parka”, gifts from a sympathetic nun. This basic kit instilled the idea of music as a career; a decade later, O’Connor topped charts around the world with the single Nothing Compares 2 U.
