Once again, however, good reviews failed to translate into chart success. ‘She Who Dwells in the Secret…’ (2003) Fully titled She Who Dwells in the Secret Place of the Most High Shall Abide Under the Shadow of the Almighty, this double-CD collection of rarities, B-sides and live tracks was thought at the time it was released to be O’Connor’s way of drawing a line under her career and, after many false endings, to mark her final retirement from the music industry. ‘Sean-N?ua’ (2002) With a title that translates as ” Old Way Made New”, this album saw O’Connor returning once more to Irish folk music for inspiration. ‘Universal Mother’ (1994) Following a turbulent time in her personal life, O’Connor made a return to recording with an album of deceptively peaceful, folk-tinged ballads.

Scratch the surface, however, and the lyrics reveal her emotional scars. The album’s redemptive finale, ” Thank You For Hearing Me”, was released as a single and became her biggest hit since “Nothing Compares 2 U”. ‘Faith and Courage’ (2000) After an extended, six-year hiatus interrupted only by the release of a couple of singles and a “Best of” compilation, O’Connor returned to the fray with a rockier sound and collaborators ranging from Wyclef Jean to Brian Eno. But, despite generally favourable critical notices, it failed to make a big impression commercially. It sold well in the UK, reaching the Top 10, but performed badly in the US following her infamous appearance on Saturday Night Live. ‘Am I Not Your Girl?’ (1992) Recording a collection of torch songs and standards such as “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” and ” Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” may have seemed an odd choice for someone as uncompromising as O’Connor, but the strength of her voice shines through.

That is why, coming back to life now, I had to record them first They were my lifeboats and my ropes out of death They still are.” Singing is not about pop for her It stopped being that a long, long time ago. “This record,” she wrote, “gimme back my life.” BIG HITS AND CLOSE SHAVES ‘The Lion and the Cobra’ (1987) After previously collaborating with artists such as U2’s The Edge and World Party, the range of O’Connor’s unique, mercurial voice was fully revealed on this, her solo debut. The album is by turns poppy, angry, sensual and anguished, with highlights including the dance-tinged “Mandinka”, which reached the Top 20 in the UK. ‘I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got’ (1990) Recorded during the break-up of her first marriage, O’Connor’s second album shot to the top of the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. Its success was fuelled largely by one song: “Nothing Compares 2 U”.

Originally an obscure Prince track, O’Connor’s astonishing version (and the stark video that accompanied it) made her a huge star. “But explain it in the context: after years of trauma, culminating in that trial, I had developed manic depression… and the main symptom is the constant voice in the head telling you to kill yourself It was the illness which was at me. I would rather my kids understood it within the context of my having been so ill, and not that this is the way I really am.” The songs on Throw Down Your Arms were far more important to her than she had been able to say in person. Two days after she tried to kill herself in 1999, Sin? checked out of hospital and left London for Dublin “I had a flat all by myself, I knew nobody,” she wrote “I was all alone except for those songs They kept me alive and hugged me and held on to me They carried me through that time If not for them I would have been utterly lost, spiritually I thought God hated me and wanted me dead Those songs showed me God was with me, and helped me live. “Singing is a way of proclaiming a better world,” says Brother Mark Patrick Hederman of Glenstal Abbey, where she found friends for a while, “it’s a refusal to give in to the grimness of the past.” The day after that conversation I received an email from O’Connor requesting that I did not write about the suicide attempt Then another “OK, just say the truth,” she wrote.