Sinéad O’Connor speaks about ending her feud with Cranberries’ Dolores O’Riordan

Sinéad O’Connor and Dolores O’Riordan - photo copyright Gsulima CC3 and Nat Ch Villa CC2

Sinéad O’Connor has spoken about her rivalry with fellow Irish star Dolores O’Riordan.

O’Connor clashed with the late Cranberries front woman during the 1990s but she said that the relationship between the two improved considerably by the time O’Riordan passed away.

O’Connor felt that O’Riordan’s style was a little too similar to her own and a professional rivalry soon started to become personal.

O’Connor now admits that she had perhaps behaved immaturely in the early days but revealed that she offered support to O’Riordan who was involved in an air rage incident in 2014.

O’Riordan was going through a divorce and the stress culminated in an incident that saw her assault an air stewardess on a flight from New York to Shannon.

Following the incident, O’Connor got in touch with O’Riordan to offer her support.

O’Connor said: “I was furious with Dolores. But I’d never spoken to her a day in her life. When she got in trouble on the plane someone put her in touch; sort of like, two crazy girls can help each other.

“Up to then, I was immature in how I dealt with her and I’d haughtily move past her in studios.

“Honestly, I think she was brilliant. And look, I was imitating the people who influenced me too. Eventually, I came to the realisation that she could stand up and sing any way she wanted. Which is how it should be.”

O’Connor also revealed that Prince was the scariest person she had ever met.

Prince wrote O’Connor’s global hit Nothing Compares 2U, but the two stars did not gel on a personal level.

O’Connor said: “I thought Prince would fall in love with me and it would all be lovely, but he was the most frightening human being I ever met in my life, even more frightening than my mother.”

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By Michael Kehoe

Michael Kehoe is a writer for Irish Music Daily and Ireland Calling. His favourite Irish Music bands are Flogging Molly and the Dropkick Murphys.