Sinéad O’Connor lived with a “protective ring” around her in Ireland before she moved to London days ahead of her death.
The ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ singer was found dead at her new apartment on Wednesday (26.07.23) in the capital after telling fans on 12 July she had moved back to the city she considered “home”, but the community where she lived in her homeland had made her life comfortable there by being fiercely protective of their famous neighbour.
Town councillor Erika Doyle told the Irish Independent about Sinéad settling in Bray, County Wicklow: “Quite by chance, I met her and we became friendly for a period.
“One day I was walking along the seafront and saw a paparazzo start to set up in a shelter across from her house. I called her to let her know. She laughed and said three or four locals had already been in touch.”
There have been reports Sinéad paid medical bills for impoverished Bray residents.
In the days since she was found dead, locals have been leaving flowers, candles and poems at the front of her former house, which she sold in 2021.
There have also been calls for a mural or statue of the singer.
Tom Dalton, a musician who ran acoustic singing sessions in a Bray pub, didn’t recognise Sinéad at first when she joined an eight-strong group of musicians there one evening in 2019.
She wore a hijab and used her Muslim name, Shuhada’ Sadaqat and dropped in after spotting a sign advertising the session.
Strumming a guitar, she sang a song solo, then a verse of ‘Amazing Grace’ – with the penny then finally dropping with Tom they had a world-famous musician performing in the bar.
He told The Guardian: “But I treated her the same as everybody else. Nobody asked her for photographs.
“I didn’t upload the video at the time because it was just us, and it was beautiful. And she had retired from music.”
