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London authorities have ruled that Sinéad O’Connor’s death on Wednesday is “not being treated as suspicious.”
On Thursday, a Scotland Yard spokesperson confirmed to the BBC that authorities found the singer “unresponsive” and “pronounced [her] dead at the scene” at 11:18 BST. Police have still not offered a cause of death but said they would not be opening an inquest. “A file will be prepared for the coroner,” they said.
London’s Inner South Coroner’s Court will conduct an autopsy, but it will take many weeks to determine the results. Separate from the police, they said they haven’t yet determined whether an inquest was necessary.
O’Connor’s family confirmed her death in a statement to the Irish news network RTE on Wednesday. “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinéad,” they said. “Her family and friends are devastated and have requested privacy at this very difficult time.”
O’Connor shot to fame in 1990 when her version of the Prince song “Nothing Compares 2 U” became a Number One hit. Her unique vocal style would echo throughout the Nineties, influencing singers such as Sarah McLachlan and Alanis Morissette.
The singer discussed her struggles with mental health several times in the past two decades. OnThe Oprah Winfrey Showin 2007, O’Connor said she’d been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and that she’d attempted suicide in 1999 on her 33rd birthday. However, she reappeared on the program seven years later to say that she’d gotten several second opinions and believed she’d been misdiagnosed. O’Connor posted what appeared to be a suicide note on her Facebook page in November 2015, lashing out at her family members. When she disappeared during a biking trip in suburban Chicago in May 2016, there were widespread fears for her life. A yearlong stay in a trauma and addiction-treatment programfollowedin 2020.
She experienced renewed interest in her career after that, with the arrival of a memoir and a documentary — both of which helped change the media’s narrative about her as a destructive iconoclast.
In the wake of her death, several of O’Connor’s peers and admirers have paid tribute to the singer on social media. Morissette said O’Connor’s music was “really moving for me, and very inspiring, before I wrote Jagged Little Pill.”
