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Home / Entertainment

Sinead O’Connor cause of death revealed by coroner

Bang Showbiz
9 Jan, 2024 04:32 PM2 mins to read

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A video posted to Twitter may be the last sighting of Sinead O'Connor before her tragic death at 56. Photo / Twitter

A video posted to Twitter may be the last sighting of Sinead O'Connor before her tragic death at 56. Photo / Twitter

Sinead O’Connor died of natural causes.

The Nothing Compares 2 U hitmaker was found dead at her rented flat in London on July 26 aged 56, and now the coroner has confirmed the late music legend’s cause of death.

A spokesperson for Southwark Coroners Court told Express.co.uk: “This is to confirm that Ms O’Connor died of natural causes. The coroner has therefore ceased their involvement in her death.”

Police did not treat her death as suspicious when she was found unresponsive.

The confirmation comes after her friend claimed she could have died from a “broken heart” after the death of her teenage son.

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The Irish-born star was left devastated by the passing of her boy Shane by suicide at the age of 17 in January 2022.

Fans of Sinead O'Connor lined the street as her funeral cortege passed through her former hometown of Bray. Photos / AP
Fans of Sinead O'Connor lined the street as her funeral cortege passed through her former hometown of Bray. Photos / AP

Sinead’s friend and producer David Holmes, 54, who was working with her on her final album at the time of her death, said in the new RTÉ documentary Sinead: “Even though Sinead was this incredibly resilient survivor, I totally believe that people can die of a broken heart.”

Belfast-born David spent five years collaborating with Sinead on what turned out to be her final album, No Veteran Dies Alone, after the pair met at the late Shane MacGowan’s 60th birthday celebration at Dublin’s National Concert Hall in 2018, where Sinead performed alongside singers including Nick Cave and Bono.

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O’Connor appears at the 31st Annual Grammy Awards in 1989. Photo / AP
O’Connor appears at the 31st Annual Grammy Awards in 1989. Photo / AP

David said about their meeting: “We ended up backstage. I just stopped and introduced myself and said, “My name is David Holmes, you probably have no idea what I do or anything about me but I would love to make an album with you about healing.

“At that moment wasn’t a good time for Sinéad – everybody knows she had mental health issues.

“I needed healing myself. I was going through my own experience. It’s amazing what the right song or piece of music can do.”

Sinead O'Connor fan, Ruth O'Shea, centre, stands outside the former home of Sinead O'Connor ahead of the late singer's funeral, in Bray, Co Wicklow, Ireland, Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023. O’Connor’s family has invited the public to line the waterfront in Bray on Tuesday as her funeral procession passes by. Fans left handwritten notes outside her former home, thanking her for sharing her voice and her music. (Liam McBurneyPA via AP)
Sinead O'Connor fan, Ruth O'Shea, centre, stands outside the former home of Sinead O'Connor ahead of the late singer's funeral, in Bray, Co Wicklow, Ireland, Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023. O’Connor’s family has invited the public to line the waterfront in Bray on Tuesday as her funeral procession passes by. Fans left handwritten notes outside her former home, thanking her for sharing her voice and her music. (Liam McBurneyPA via AP)

David and Sinead ended up recording nine tracks together before her death.

Singer Christy Moore, 78, also appears in the new documentary on the singer, which aired on Monday in the UK, and tells how her death was a “terrible loss”.

The show covers the ups and downs and controversies of Sinead’s life, including the row that erupted when she famously tore up a picture of Pope John Paul II live on American TV in 1992 in protest at the Catholic church’s cover-ups of child abuse.

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