Sinéad O’Connor’s fans gathered in Bray, Ireland on Tuesday to say goodbye to the late singer.
The Nothing Compares 2 U singer was found unresponsive at her home in London on 26 July, and on Tuesday, she was laid to rest after a private funeral service in her homeland of Ireland.
Hundreds of mourners lined the route along Strand Road in Bray, County Wicklow to pay their respects to the 56-year-old singer. They threw flowers on the hearse as the cortege went by and left flowers and hand-written notes outside her former home Montebello, where she lived for 15 years until 2021.
According to Sky News, a campervan joined the procession and played O’Connor’s songs from speakers mounted on the roof.
The private funeral service was attended by Irish President Michael D. Higgins as well as O’Connor’s fellow Irish musicians Bob Geldof and Bono and The Edge of U2.
O’Connor converted to Islam in 2018 and changed her name to Shuhada’ Sadaqat. Shaykh Dr Umar Al-Qadri from the Islamic Centre of Ireland delivered her eulogy during the ceremony.
“The more she sang and spoke about her own pain, as well as about the pervasive sins in society that she witnessed, the more her voice and her words resonated with listeners and touched their hearts,” he said. “Sinead never stopped her search to know God fully, exemplifying a life marked with a deep communion with God.”
Noting that O’Connor “suffered more than her share of hardship and adversity” but still carried an “undertone of hope”, he called her a “unique daughter of Ireland who moved so many hearts with her mighty voice and unflinching honesty”.
He later added, “May this ceremony be a testament to the enduring power of humanity’s collective spirit, as we bid farewell to a remarkable soul who touched us all.”
O’Connor’s cause of death has not been disclosed.
