It's difficult to believe but Sinead O'Connor celebrates thirty years in the music business this year. As if to prove she's the owner of as relevant a voice as she's ever had, O'Connor releases her tenth full-length record 'I'm Not Bossy, I'm The Boss' on August 8th and it's up there with the best work she's ever done.
O'Connor's emergence on the Irish music landscape towards the end of the 1980's - in the middle of the creatively stifling atmosphere of the combined challenges of unemployment, church and patriarchy - served as a welcome jolt, the collective realisation that a supreme talent had made herself known and wasn't going to be kept quiet.
And thank goodness she didn't. Over the course of the next three decades, O'Connor became one of the most talked about musicians on the face of the earth. From causing international headlines for ripping up a photograph of the Pope on live television in the United States, to last year's face-off with Miley Cyrus, the Dubliner has always spoken her mind with clarity and vigour - a notion which also flows through her music.
In celebration of the upcoming release of 'I'm Not Bossy, I'm The Boss', we have delved into the archives (read: YouTube) to pick out just five musical highlights from Sinead O'Connor's career, which you can see below.
Nothing Compares 2 U
Whether she likes it or not, Sinead O'Connor's 'Nothing Compares 2 U' will be intrinsically linked to the singer until the day she dies (and, in actual fact, long after that). The heartbreaking ballad was O'Connor's true breakout song which led to her profile exploding outside of Ireland and become a worldwide hit in 1990. The promo for the song has become one of the most well-known music videos ever produced and one of the premier examples of that medium developing into an art form all to itself.
No Man's Woman
A song which has mostly flown under the radar, except with hardcore Sinead fans of course, 'No Man's Woman' is Sinead at her most forthright. The song goes into detail on Sinead's individuality and her unwillingness to trade any sense of her independence just to be candy on somebody's arm, saying that she's got "other work to get done".
Mandinka
This song first showed up on Sinead's debut record, 1987's The Lion and the Cobra and proved to be the first single of hers which would earn regular rotation on radio and television at home and abroad, also becoming a huge hit on college radio in the United States. This led to O'Connor's first appearance on US television on Late Night with David Letterman, followed soon after by a live rendition at the 1989 Grammy Awards.
He Prayed
Sinead threw a curve ball in 2005 by releasing Throw Down Your Arms, a collection cover versions of classic roots reggae songs overseen by the production skills of Sly and Robbie and authentically recorded in Kingston, Jamaica at Tuff Gong Studios. While the album wasn't O'Connor's most successful of her career, it still shifted more than 250,000 copies and Sinead siphoned off 10% of her earnings to go towards supporting Rastafari elders in Jamaica.
Take Me To Church
Nope not the Hozier version (although we suspect that Sinead would like it), 'Take Me To Church is the lead single from O'Connor's latest record I'm Not Bossy, I'm The Boss and is an elegant example of what the record has to offer. Stephen Thompson, music critic for NPR, described the song as being a "beautiful glimpse into the mind of a singer who constantly searches for improvements in herself" and that it "find[s] pathways to peace, redemption, freedom and wonder". Hey, if that doesn't make you want to hear it nothing will.
Sinead O'Connor's I'm Not Bossy, I'm The Boss is released on Friday August 8th and you can win copies of it RIGHT HERE.