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Highlights - Muses
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| Sinéad
O´Connor - Muse of The Muses! |
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Sinéad
O'Connor ranked among the most distinctive and controversial
pop music stars of the 1990s, the first and in many ways
the most influential of the numerous female performers whose
music dominated airwaves throughout the decade.
Brash
and outspoken -- her shaven head, angry visage and shapeless
wardrobe a direct challenge to the popular culture's long-prevailing
notions of femininity and sexuality -- O'Connor irrevocably
altered the image of women in rock; railing against long-standing
stereotypes simply by asserting herself not as a sex object
but as a serious artist, she kick-started a revolt which
led the way for performers ranging from Liz Phair to Courtney
Love to Alanis Morissette.
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O'Connor
was born in Dublin, Ireland on December 8, 1966. Her childhood
was often traumatic: her parents divorced when she was
eight, and she later claimed that her mother, who was
killed in a 1985 automobile accident, frequently abused
her.
After
being expelled from Catholic school, O'Connor was arrested
for shoplifting and shuttled off to a reformatory; at
the age of 15, while singing a cover of Barbra Streisand's
"Evergreen" at a wedding, she was spotted by Paul Byrne,
the drummer for the Irish band In Tua Nua (best known
as proteges of U2).
After
co-writing the first In Tua Nua single, "Take My Hand,"
O'Connor left boarding school in order to focus on a career
in music, and began performing in area coffeehouses; she
later studied voice and piano at the Dublin College of
Music, and supported herself delivering singing telegrams.
Upon
signing a contract with Ensign Records in 1985, O'Connor
relocated to London; the following year she made her recorded
debut on the soundtrack of the film The Captive, appearing
with U2 guitarist the Edge...
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After
scrapping the initial tapes for her debut LP on the grounds
that the production was too Celtic, she took the producer's
seat herself and began re-recording the album, dubbed The
Lion and the Cobra in reference to Psalm 91
The
result was one of the most acclaimed debut records of 1987,
with a pair of alternative radio hits in the singles "Mandinka"
and "Troy."
Almost
from the outset of her career, however, O'Connor was a controversial
media figure. In interviews following the LP's release,
she defended the actions of the IRA, resulting in widespread
criticism from many corners, and even burned bridges by
attacking longtime supporters U2, whose music she declared
"bombastic."
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However,
O'Connor remained a cult figure prior to the release of
1990's chart-topping I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got,
a harrowing masterpiece sparked by the recent dissolution
of her marriage to drummer John Reynolds.
Boosted
by the single and video "Nothing Compares 2 U," originally
penned by Prince, the album established her as a major
star, but again controversy followed as tabloids took
aim at her romance with black singer Hugh Harris while
continuing to attack her outspoken politics.
On American shores, O'Connor also became the target of
derision for refusing to perform in New Jersey if "The
Star Spangled Banner" was played prior to her appearance,
a move which brought public criticism from no less than
Frank Sinatra, who threatened to "kick her ass".
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She
also made headlines for pulling out of an appearance on
the NBC program Saturday Night Live in response to the misogynist
persona of guest host Andrew Dice Clay, and even withdrew
her name from competition in the annual Grammy Awards despite
four nominations.
O'Connor also continued to confound expectations with her
third album, 1992's Am I Not Your Girl? a collection of
pop standards and torch songs that failed to live up to
either the commercial or critical success of I Do Not Want
What I Haven't Got.
However, any discussion of the record's creative merits
quickly became moot in the wake of her most controversial
and damaging action yet.
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After
finally appearing on Saturday Night Live, O'Connor ended
her performance by ripping up a photo of Pope John Paul
II, resulting in a wave of condemnation unlike any she'd
previously encountered.
Two
weeks after the SNL performance, she appeared at a Bob
Dylan tribute concert at New York's Madison Square Garden,
and was promptly booed off the stage.
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Now
a virtual pariah, O'Connor's retirement from the music business
was subsequently reported, although it was later claimed
that she had merely returned to Dublin with the intent of
studying opera.
She
kept a low profile for the next several years, starring
as Ophelia in a theatrical production of Hamlet and later
touring with Peter Gabriel's WOMAD festival.
She
also reportedly suffered a nervous breakdown, and even made
a half-hearted attempt at suicide. In 1994, however, O'Connor
returned to pop music with the LP Univeral Mother, which,
despite good reviews, failed to relaunch her to superstar
status.
The
following year she announced that she would no longer speak
to the press. The Gospel Oak EP followed in 1997, and in
mid-2000 O'Connor issued Faith and Courage, her first full-length
effort in six years.
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Sinead
O'Connor will release a collection of traditional Irish
songs entitled Sean Nos Nua on October 8th on Vanguard
Records. She is recording the album -- her first since
2000's Faith and Courage -- in County Wicklow in her native
Ireland.
Backing
O'Connor are some of Ireland's best contemporary folk
musicians, including the Waterboys' Steve Wickham (fiddle),
Sharon Shannon (accordion), Donal Lunny (acoustic guitar,
bouzouki, bodhran, keyboards), Cora Venus Lunny (classical
violin) and Rob O'Gheibheannaigh (whistle and banjo).
O'Connor, Donal Lunny and Adrian Sherwood (Nine Inch Nails,
Dub Syndicate and the Cure) are producing, and they plan
to finish recording in late July.
According
to O'Connor, the songs they are interpreting have typically
been recorded old style (or "Sean Nos" in Irish) by other
artists.
"The
way we have recorded them is to 'sexy' them up with rhythms
and sounds so that they can become part of what is new
style," she says. "Hence the record is called Sean Nos
Nua -- old style but new."
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Marcio
Faveri
Art
- Leandro Gonçalves
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