Sinéad O'Connor told her children that, if she died, they should call her accountant before the police, so as to protect her recordings and finances from her record company. Photo / Getty Images
Sinéad O'Connor told her children that, if she died, they should call her accountant before the police, so as to protect her recordings and finances from her record company. Photo / Getty Images
Sinéad O’Connor had instructions for her children in the event of her death.
Earlier this year, the Irish singer revealed to People magazine that she made it clear to them how important it was to protect her art and finances if she died.
She told her children to call her accountant before they called police.
“See, when the artists are dead, they’re much more valuable than when they’re alive. Tupac has released way more albums since he died than he ever did alive, so it’s kind of gross what record companies do,” she told People at the time.
She added: “That’s why I’ve always instructed my children since they were very small, ‘If your mother drops dead tomorrow, before you called 911, call my accountant and make sure the record companies don’t start releasing my records and not telling you where the money is.’”
O’Connor, who is best known for her rendition of Prince’s Nothing Compares 2 U, recalled in the interview a bizarre encounter she had with Prince that was featured in her memoir Rememberings.
Sinéad O'Connor performing in 1988. She said earlier this year that she told her children: "If your mother drops dead tomorrow, before you called 911, call my accountant and make sure the record companies don’t start releasing my records and not telling you where the money is.” Photo / Getty Images
While she “came away not liking him very much”, that didn’t change the way she felt about him as an artist.
In fact, she defended him when talking about how record labels had profited from his music after his death in 2016.
“One of the things that’s a great bugbear with me, I get very angry when I think of it, is the fact that they’re raping his vault,” she told People.
“All musicians, we have songs that we really are embarrassed about that are crap. We don’t want anyone hearing them.
Sinead O'Connor said a meeting with Prince, who wrote Nothing Compares 2 U, turned "violent" and "crazy" when she visited his home in 1991. Photos / AP
“Now this is a man who released every song he ever recorded, so if he went to the trouble of building a vault, which is a pretty strong thing to do, that means he really did not want these songs released. And I can’t stand that people are, as I put it, raping the vault.”
She went on to say that she didn’t think Prince would be able to stomach hearing his 1984 hit Let’s Go Crazy in a credit card ad.
“That’s a song about appreciation, friendship and love and not the material things in life. It’s a song about, ‘Look, we could die anytime now. Let’s love each other and appreciate.’ I think he will be turning in his grave over it being used to sell a credit card.”
O'Connor performing in 2014. She said earlier this year that she believed it was important for artists' families to keep control of their music after their deaths. Photo / AP
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinéad,” her family said in a statement to Irish broadcaster RTE and the BBC. “Her family and friends are devastated and have requested privacy at this very difficult time.”
A cause of death has not been stated.
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