Sinéad O’Connor: Fans lay tributes and light candles ahead of singer’s funeral

Tributes have been left outside Sinéad O'Connor's former house ahead of her funeral today (August 8). Fans are expected to throng an Irish seaside road as the cortege passes by before the famed singer's private burial.

Thank you messages were placed outside her previous house in Bray, Co Wicklow, thanking her for sharing her voice and music. "You are forever in my heart," one note said. A pink chair was placed outside the house's pink-framed conservatory on the beachfront, with pink flowers and a photo of the singer at the base.

One plaque placed on the property's wall mentioned causes that the singer supported, such as embracing refugees: "Where words fail, music speaks." A neighbour was also spotted placing candles on the wall between the two homes.

O’Connor’s family have asked people who wish to say a “last goodbye” to stand along the Bray seafront as the cortege passes by. The procession is expected to start at 10.30am at the Harbour Bar end of the Strand Road and will continue past her former home, Montebello, where she lived for 15 years.

Since her death on July 26, people have been leaving flowers and paying their respects at the house, which the singer sold in 2021 and which now lies empty. A statement issued by her family said: “Sinéad loved living in Bray and the people in it.

With this procession, her family would like to acknowledge the outpouring of love for her from the people of Co Wicklow and beyond, since she left last week to go to another place.”

The Irish Grammy-winning singer was found unresponsive by police at her south-east London home, aged 56.

A host of tributes have flooded in from fans and famous artists across the world in response to her death, including Russell Crowe, Annie Lennox, Cyndi Lauper and Bob Geldof.

A councillor for Bray East said fans are “grateful” to the family for allowing them the opportunity to “say goodbye” to the late Irish singer.

Erika Doyle told BBC Breakfast: “I was a lifelong fan of Sinéad . We met quite by chance when she moved to Bray…Sinéad, although she was attached to Bray and very Irish, she was a global superstar, that is easy for us to forget here in Bray – she touched lives across the world.”

She added: “Sinéad’s legacy is still being written and I think it will for some time… We are very grateful to Sinéad’s family for allowing the opportunity to say goodbye…People are taking the opportunity to connect with her in some way. I always said about Sinéad she was actually quite quiet, but she was never silent.

“We need to mourn the Sinéad of Nothing Compares, but (also) the Sinéad who shone a light on difficult areas. She was controversial but in the way when people say things that people aren’t ready for… speaking truth to power.”

Several gatherings were held in the days after O’Connor’s death in Dublin, Belfast and London, where members of the public paid tribute to her legacy as a musician and activist.

O’Connor, who was born in Dublin in December 1966, released her first album The Lion And The Cobra in 1987.

Her second studio album, I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, followed in 1990 and contained the hit single Nothing Compares 2 U, which saw O’Connor top the charts in countries around the world.

The track earned her multiple Grammy Award nominations including for the prestigious record of the year category, as well as best female pop vocal performance and best music video.

In 1991, she was named artist of the year by Rolling Stone magazine and took home the Brit Award for international female solo artist. She released a further eight studio albums, the latest being 2014’s I’m Not Bossy, I’m The Boss.

In 2018, O’Connor announced that she had converted to Islam and changed her name to Shuhada’ Sadaqat.

Following her death, her music management company 67 Management said she had been finishing a new album, reviewing tour dates for next year and was also considering “opportunities” around a movie of her book.

O’Connor’s death is not being treated as suspicious by authorities. A London coroner did not find a medical cause of death and suggested that the post-mortem examination results may take several weeks.