. The editor kindly suggested I interview the rising star Sinéad O'Connor, who'd released her first album, The Lion and The Cobra, to much acclaim the year before. She was due to appear at a music festival in Italy so I was dispatched to go with her – this was in the days before stars had huge entourages and when access to them was limited to a roundtable in a conference suite, or tightly controlled 15 minutes in a hotel suite with the PR listening in. In those days there were no banned subjects or copy approval. We met at the airport in London – she was unmistakable, remarkable even at just 21. I was only 22 myself, with just a few short pop interviews to my name. Sinéad had a hit record and a young baby already. She wore the shaved head, white T-shirt and jeans that were already her trademark, but at that time accessorised with her son Jake's babygro pinned to the back waistband of her jeans. I'd shaved my head when I was 14, thinking 'what a rebel' but the only people who cared were my furious headteacher and my even more furious mother. Sinéad was facing down an entire industry. No one on that flight, or checking into that hotel, or roaming around the industry events looked anything like Sinéad. She had an extraordinary presence. Those eyes. That voice. And yet… she was reticent about being interviewed. Every time I suggested we have the sit-down chat, she'd want to do something else. We did makeove){kind=link}
The talented, troubled singer was a one-off who entranced all who met her – our writers recall their encounters with the unique Irish star
The news of her death, at the age of just 56, sent shockwaves and sadness around the world of music. The Irish singer Sinead O’Connor was best known for her emotional yet brilliantly simple cover of Prince’s Nothing Compares 2 U released in 1990.
Here, four Telegraph writers share their own tales of the troubled, talented and very unique star…
Lisa Markwell
It was 1988 and I was a very junior member of staff at Sky magazine (a now-defunct pop culture title). The editor kindly suggested I interview the rising star Sinead O’Connor, who’d released her first album, The Lion and The Cobra, to much acclaim the year before.