9. Sinead O’ConnorThe Lion and the Cobra
She’s one of my all-time favourite artists, all-time favourite spirits and one of my all-time favourite voices. I think she’s incredibly fragile and I continue to worry for her because I don’t think she’s being very well taken care of as an artist. There’s certain artists need everybody’s help to continue to be creative and she’s one of them.
I’m a tank – I can take care of myself and I don’t need anybody’s help, but Sinéad O’Connor is a jewel and has a voice like no other – one of the great voices of this century. I worry that we’re going to lose her. She has mental health problems and has spoken very openly about them and is really brave and courageous for doing so. She’s a great rebellious spirit who was punished for being a rebel in ways that we can barely imagine or conceive of. I have nothing but great admiration for her.
She has this extraordinary voice that just does things to my insides. She’s a complete iconic gem and touches me in ways that so few can; she’s made so many beautiful records. I wish I could sort of throw myself at her feet, because I feel like she finds love, I think, difficult to absorb, and yet she’s so deserving of it. This voice comes, again, from a different universe. Its spectacular ability to both emote and communicate. I’m so grateful to her for this record; I just love it and I love hearing her sing so much. She’s one of my touchstones, someone I always can rely on to bring magic.
When greats die, like when David Bowie died, there’s this great outpouring of grief as I know there will be if and when, god forbid, we lose, finally, an artist like Sinéad O’Connor. Yet she’s alive now and is capable of producing these spectacular pieces of work, and yet she’s treated so brutally by the music industry – an industry who would rather laude in applause an uncreative, stage-schooled kid who’s got a great voice but no soul. They’ll get more excited about that than they will the possibility of signing a great like Sinéad O’Connor. And therein lies the ludicrousness of the modern music business.
