Look up Conner in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Conner may refer to:

People:

• Conner (surname)
• Conner (given name)

Places:

• Mount Conner, Northern Territory, Australia
• Conner, Apayao, a municipality in the Philippines
• Conner, California, a community
• Conner Preserve, a park in Florida

Other uses:

• USS Conner, two US Navy ships
• Conner High School, a public high school in Hebron, Kentucky, United States
• "Conner" (song), by The Feeling
• Conner Peripherals, a defunct American computer hardware company
• Bergall, also known as conner, a type of fish found in North Atlantic waters

See also[link]

• O'Conner
• La Conner, a town in the state of Washington, United States

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad O'Connor performing live in 2008
Background information
Birth name	Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor
Born	(1966-12-08) 8 December 1966 (age 45)
Origin	Glenageary, County Dublin, Ireland
Genres	Alternative rock, pop rock, folk rock
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician, priest
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards, percussion, low whistle
Years active	1986–present
Labels	Ensign, Vanguard, Chocolate and Vanilla, One Little Indian
Website	Official website

Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor ( /ʃɪˈneɪd oʊˈkɒnər/;^[1] born 8 December 1966) is an Irish singer-songwriter who rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra. O'Connor achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U".

Since then, while maintaining her singing career, she has occasionally encountered controversy, partly due to her statements and gestures such as her ordination as a priest despite being female with a Roman Catholic background, and her expressed strong views on organized religion, women's rights, war, and child abuse.

In addition to her nine solo albums her work includes many singles, songs for films, collaborations with many other artists, and appearances at charity fundraising concerts.

Early life[link]

Sinéad O'Connor was born in Glenageary in County Dublin and was named after Sinéad de Valera, wife of Irish President Éamon de Valera and mother of the doctor presiding over the delivery, and Saint Bernadette of Lourdes.^[2] She is the third of five children, sister to Joseph, Eimear, John, and Eoin. Joseph O'Connor is a novelist.

Her parents are Sean O'Connor, a structural engineer later turned barrister, and Marie O'Connor. The couple married young and had a troubled relationship, separating when Sinéad was eight. The three eldest children went to live with their mother, where O'Connor claims they were subjected to frequent physical abuse. Her song "Fire on Babylon" is about the effects of her own child abuse, and she has consistently advocated on behalf of abused children. Sean O'Connor's efforts to secure custody of his children in a country which routinely denied custody to fathers and prohibited divorce, motivated him to become chairman of the Divorce Action Group and a prominent public spokesman. At one point, he even debated his wife on the subject on a radio show.

In 1979, O'Connor left her mother and went to live with her father and his new wife. However, at the age of 15, her shoplifting and truancy led to her being placed in a Magdalene Asylum,^[3] the Grianán Training Centre run by the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity. In some ways, she thrived there, especially in the development of her writing and music, but she also chafed under the imposed conformity. Unruly students there were sometimes sent to sleep in the adjoining nursing home, an experience of which she later commented, "I have never — and probably will never — experience such panic and terror and agony over anything."^[4]

One of the volunteers at Grianán was the sister of Paul Byrne, drummer for the band In Tua Nua, who heard O'Connor singing "Evergreen" by Barbra Streisand. She recorded a song with them called "Take My Hand" but they felt that at 15, she was too young to join the band.^[5]

In 1983, her father sent her to Newtown School, an exclusive Quaker boarding school in Waterford, an institution with a much more permissive atmosphere than Grianan. With the help and encouragement of her Irish language teacher, Joseph Falvey, she recorded a four-song demo, with two covers and two of her own songs which later appeared on her first album.^{[citation needed]}

Through an ad she placed in Hot Press in mid-1984, she met Columb Farrelly. Together they recruited a few other members and formed a band called Ton Ton Macoute.^[2] The band moved to Waterford briefly while O'Connor attended Newtown, but she soon dropped out of school and followed them to Dublin, where their performances received positive reviews. Their sound was inspired by Farrelly's interest in witchcraft, mysticism, and world music, though most observers thought O'Connor's singing and stage presence were the band's strongest features.^[2][6]

On 10 February 1985, O'Connor's mother was killed in a car accident, which despite their strained relationship devastated her.^{[citation needed]} Soon afterward she left the band, which stayed together despite O'Connor's statements to the contrary in later interviews, and she moved to London.^{[citation needed]}

Musical career[link]

1980s[link]

O'Connor's time as singer for Ton Ton Macoute brought her to the attention of the music industry, and she was eventually signed by Ensign Records. She also acquired an experienced manager, Fachtna O'Ceallaigh, former head of U2's Mother Records. Soon after she was signed, she embarked on her first major assignment, providing the vocals for the song "Heroine", which she co-wrote with U2's guitarist The Edge for the soundtrack to the film Captive. O'Ceallaigh, who had been fired by U2 for complaining about them in an interview, was outspoken with his views on music and politics, and O'Connor adopted the same habits; she defended the actions of the IRA and said U2's music was "bombastic".^[7]

Things were contentious in the studio as well. She was paired with veteran producer Mick Glossop, whom she later publicly derided. They had differing visions regarding her debut album and four months'-worth of recordings were scrapped. During this time she became pregnant by her session drummer John Reynolds (who went on to drum with the band Transvision Vamp). Due largely to O'Ceallaigh's efforts of persuasion, the record company allowed O'Connor, 20 years old and by then seven months pregnant, to produce her own album.^{[citation needed]}

Her first album The Lion and the Cobra was "a sensation" when it was released in 1987^[8] and it reached gold record status and earned a Best Female Rock Vocal Performance Grammy nomination. The single "Mandinka" was a big college radio hit in the United States, and "I Want Your (Hands on Me)" received both college and urban play in a remixed form that featured rapper MC Lyte. In her first US network television appearance, O'Connor sang "Mandinka" on Late Night with David Letterman in 1988.^[9] The single "Troy" was also released as a single in the UK and Ireland. A club mix of "Troy" would become a major US dance hit in 2002.^{[citation needed]}

Artists that influenced her at that time were Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Bob Marley, Siouxsie and the Banshees and The Pretenders.^[10]

1990s[link]

Her second album 1990s I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got gained considerable attention and mostly positive reviews : it was rated "second best album of the year" by the NME.^[11] She was praised for her voice and her original songs. She was also noted for her appearance: her trademark shaved head, often angry expression, and sometimes shapeless or unusual clothing.

In 1989 O'Connor joined The The frontman Matt Johnson as a guest vocalist on the band's album Mind Bomb, which spawned the duet "Kingdom of Rain."^{[citation needed]}

The album I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got featured Marco Pirroni and Kevin Mooney, of Adam and the Ants fame, and contained her international breakthrough hit "Nothing Compares 2 U", a song written by Prince and originally recorded and released by a side project of his, The Family. Aided by a memorable and well received video by John Maybury which consisted almost solely of O'Connor's face as she performed the song, it became a massive international hit, reaching #1 in several countries. In Ireland it hit the top spot in July 1990 and remained there for 11 weeks; it is the eighth most successful single of the decade there. It had similar success in the UK, charting at #1 for 4 weeks, and in Germany (#1 for 11 weeks). In Australia, it reached #1 on the Top 100. It also claimed the #1 spot on the Hot 100 chart in the USA. She also received Grammy nominations including Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. She eventually won the Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance, but boycotted the award show.^{[citation needed]}

Public Enemy's Hank Shocklee remixed the album's next single, "The Emperor's New Clothes", for a 12-inch that was coupled with the Celtic funk of "I Am Stretched On Your Grave." Pre-dating but included on I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got was also "Jump in the River", which originally appeared on the Married to the Mob soundtrack; the 12-inch version of the single had included a remix featuring performance artist Karen Finley. Also in 1990, O'Connor starred in a small independent Irish movie Hush-a-Bye Baby directed in Derry by Margo Harkin.^{[citation needed]}

In 1990, she joined many other guests for former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters' massive performance of The Wall in Berlin. (In 1996, she would guest on Broken China, a solo album by Richard Wright of Pink Floyd.) In 1991, her take on Elton John's "Sacrifice" was acclaimed as one of the best efforts on the tribute album Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin.

In 1990, she contributed a cover of "You Do Something to Me" to the Cole Porter tribute/AIDS fundraising album Red Hot + Blue produced by the Red Hot Organization. In 1998, she worked again with the Red Hot Organization to co-produce and perform on Red Hot + Rhapsody. Red Hot + Blue was followed by the release of Am I Not Your Girl?, an album of standards and torch songs that she had listened to while growing up. Also in 1992, she contributed backing vocals on the track "Come Talk To Me", and shared vocals on the single "Blood of Eden" from the studio album Us by Peter Gabriel.

Also in 1990, she was criticized after she announced that she would not perform if the United States national anthem was played before one of her concerts. Frank Sinatra threatened to "kick her ass".^[7] After receiving 4 Grammy Award nominations she withdrew her name from consideration.^[7]

After spending nine years dividing her time between London and Los Angeles, O'Connor returned to her home town of Dublin in late 1992 to live near her sister and focus on raising her son Jake, then six years old.^{[citation needed]} She spent the following months studying Bel Canto singing with teacher Frank Merriman at the Parnell School of Music. In an interview with The Guardian published 3 May 1993 she reported that her singing lessons with Merriman were the only therapy she was receiving, describing Merriman as "the most amazing teacher in the universe."^[13]

The 1993 soundtrack to the film In the Name of the Father featured "You Made Me the Thief of Your Heart", with significant contributions from U2 frontman Bono.

The more conventional Universal Mother (1994) did not succeed in restoring her mass appeal.^{[citation needed]} She toured with Lollapalooza in 1995, but dropped out when she became pregnant. The Gospel Oak EP followed in 1997, and featured songs based in an acoustic setting. It too, did not recapture previous album successes.^{[citation needed]}

In 1994, she appeared in A Celebration: The Music of Pete Townshend and The Who, also known as Daltrey Sings Townshend. This was a two-night concert at Carnegie Hall produced by Roger Daltrey of The Who in celebration of his 50th birthday. A CD and a VHS video of the concert were issued in 1994, followed by a DVD in 1998.

She appeared in Neil Jordan's The Butcher Boy in 1997, playing the Virgin Mary.^{[citation needed]}

2000s[link]

Sinéad O'Connor in Poznań in 2007

Faith and Courage was released in 2000, including the single "No Man's Woman", and featured contributions from Wyclef Jean of the Fugees and Dave Stewart of Eurythmics. On the eve of its release, O'Connor came out as a lesbian, and then retracted the statement.^{[citation needed]}

Her 2002 album, Sean-Nós Nua, marked a departure in that O'Connor interpreted or, in her own words, "sexed up" traditional Irish folk songs, including several in the Irish language.^[14] In Sean-Nós Nua, she covered a well-known Canadian folk song, Peggy Gordon, interpreted as a song of lesbian, rather than heterosexual, love. In her documentary, Song of Hearts Desire, she stated that her inspiration for the song was her friend, a lesbian who sang the song to lament the loss of her partner.

In 2003, she contributed a track to the Dolly Parton tribute album Just Because I'm a Woman, a cover of Parton's "Dagger Through the Heart". That same year, she also featured on three songs of Massive Attack's album 100th Window before releasing her double album, She Who Dwells in the Secret Place of the Most High Shall Abide Under the Shadow of the Almighty. This compilation contained one disc of demos and previously unreleased tracks and one disc of a live concert recording. Directly after the album's release, O'Connor announced her retirement from music.^[15] Collaborations, a compilation album of guest appearances, was released in 2005 - featuring tracks recorded with Peter Gabriel, Massive Attack, Jah Wobble, Terry Hall, Moby, Bomb The Bass, The Edge, U2, and The The.

Ultimately, after a brief period of inactivity and a bout with fibromyalgia, her retirement proved to be short-lived - O'Connor stated in an interview with Harp that she only intended to retire from making mainstream pop/rock music, and after dealing with her fibromyalgia, chose to move into other musical styles.^[16] The reggae album Throw Down Your Arms appeared in late 2005 and was greeted with positive reviews. It was based on the Rastafarian culture and lifestyle, O'Connor having spent time in Jamaica in 2004. She performed the single "Throw Down Your Arms" on The Late Late Show in November. She also made comments critical of the war in Iraq and the role played in it by Ireland's Shannon Airport.^{[citation needed]}

On 8 November 2006, O'Connor performed seven songs from her upcoming album Theology at The Sugar Club in Dublin. Thirty fans were given the opportunity to win pairs of tickets to attend along with music industry critics.^[17] The performance was released in 2008 as Live at the Sugar Club deluxe CD/DVD package sold exclusively on her website.

O'Connor released two songs from her album Theology to download for free from her official website: "If You Had a Vineyard" and "Jeremiah (Something Beautiful)". The album, a collection of covered and original Rastafari spiritual songs, was released in June 2007. The first single from the album, the Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber classic "I Don't Know How to Love Him", was released on 30 April 2007.^[18] To promote the album, O'Connor toured extensively in Europe and North America. She also appeared on two tracks of the new Ian Brown album The World Is Yours, including the anti-war single "Illegal Attacks".^[19]

2010s[link]

In January 2010, O'Connor performed a duet with R&B singer Mary J. Blige produced by former A Tribe Called Quest member Ali Shaheed Muhammad entitled "This Is To Mother You". The proceeds of the song's sales were donated to the organization GEMS (Girls Educational and Mentoring Services).^[20]

O'Connor announced she was working on recording a new album, entitled Home, to be released in the beginning of 2012.^[21] On October 10, 2011 O'Connor announced that the release date for the album, now entitled How About I Be Me (And You Be You)?, had been set for February 20, 2012.^[22][23], with the first single being "The Wolf is Getting Married".

Having planned an extensive tour in support of How About I Be Me (And You Be You)?, O'Connor announced on her website in April 2012 that she was "very unwell" and had suffered a serious breakdown between December 2011 and March 2012.^[24] This resulted in the cancellation of the tour and all other musical activities for the rest of 2012, at least.

The song "Lay Your Head Down", written by Brian Byrne and Glenn Close for the soundtrack of the film Albert Nobbs and performed by O'Connor, was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.

Controversy[link]

[edit] Saturday Night Live performance

On 3 October 1992, O'Connor appeared on Saturday Night Live as a musical guest. She sang an a cappella version of Bob Marley's "War", which she intended as a protest over the sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church, by changing the lyric "racism" to "child abuse."^[25] She then presented a photo of Pope John Paul II to the camera while singing the word "evil", after which she tore the photo into pieces, said "Fight the real enemy", and threw the pieces towards the camera.^[26]

Saturday Night Live had no foreknowledge of O'Connor's plan; during the dress rehearsal she held up a photo of a refugee child. NBC Vice President of Late Night Rick Ludwin recalled that when he saw O'Connor's action he "literally jumped out of [his] chair." SNL writer Paula Pell recalled personnel in the control booth discussing the cameras cutting away from the singer.^[27] The audience was completely silent, with no booing or applause;^[28] executive producer Lorne Michaels recalled that "the air went out the studio". Michaels, who ordered that the applause sign not be used, described the incident as "on a certain level, a betrayal", but also "a serious expression of belief."^[27]

A nationwide audience saw O'Connor's live performance, which the New York Daily News's cover called a "HOLY TERROR".^[27] NBC received more than 500 calls on Sunday^[29] and 400 more on Monday, with all but seven criticizing O'Connor;^[28] the network received 4,400 calls in total.^[30] Contrary to rumour, NBC was not fined by the Federal Communications Commission for O'Connor's act; the FCC has no regulatory power over blasphemy.^[30] NBC did not edit the performance out of the West coast tape-delayed broadcast that night,^[31] but reruns of the episode use footage from the dress rehearsal.^[30] On 24 April 2010, MSNBC aired the live version during an interview with O'Connor on The Rachel Maddow Show. In 1993 issue of The Irish Times O'Connor wrote a public letter where she asked people to "stop hurting" her.

As part of SNL's apology to the audience, during his opening monologue the following week, host Joe Pesci held up the photo, explaining that he had taped it back together. He then tore up another photo - of O'Connor herself - to huge applause. Pesci also said that if it had been his show, "I would have gave her such a smack."^[32]

In a 2002 interview with Salon, when asked if she would change anything about the SNL appearance, O'Connor replied, "Hell, no!"^[33] In 2010, TV Guide Network listed the incident at No. 24 on their list of 25 Biggest TV Blunders.^[34]

Madonna's reaction[link]

On Madonna's next appearance on SNL (on an episode hosted by Harvey Keitel), after singing "Bad Girl", she held up a photo of Joey Buttafuoco^[35] and, saying "fight the real enemy", tore it up. Madonna also roundly attacked O'Connor in the press for the incident, telling the Irish Times: "I think there is a better way to present her ideas rather than ripping up an image that means a lot to other people." She added, "If she is against the Roman Catholic Church and she has a problem with them, I think she should talk about it."^[36] The New York Times called it "professional jealousy" and wrote that: "After Madonna had herself gowned, harnessed, strapped down and fully stripped to promote her album Erotica and her book Sex, O'Connor stole the spotlight with one photograph of a fully clothed man. But the other vilification that descended on O'Connor showed she had struck a nerve."^[37] Bob Guccione, Jr. in a 1993 SPIN editorial was adamant in his defense of O'Connor, writing, "...Madonna savaged her in the press, obviously to fuel publicity for Sex and sales of her new album, Erotica .... But when the Sinead controversy threatened to siphon some of the attention from the impending release of Sex, Madonna conveniently found religion again..."^[36] In November 1991, a year prior to the incident, O'Connor had told Spin Magazine: "Madonna is probably the hugest role model for women in America. There's a woman who people look up to as being a woman who campaigns for women's rights. A woman who in an abusive way towards me, said that I look like I had a run in with a lawnmower and that I was about as sexy as a Venetian blind. Now there's the woman that America looks up to as being a campaigner for women, slagging off another woman for not being sexy".^[38]

Bob Dylan tribute performance[link]

Two weeks after the Saturday Night Live appearance, she was set to perform "I Believe in You" at the Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary tribute concert in Madison Square Garden.^[39] She was greeted by a thundering mixture of cheers and jeers. During the booing, Kris Kristofferson told her not to "let the bastards get you down", to which she replied, "I'm not down."^[40][41] The noise eventually became so loud that O'Connor saw no point in starting the scheduled song. She called for the keyboard player to stop and the microphone to be turned up, and then screamed over the audience with an improvised, shouted rendition of "War". This time, she sang the song, stopping just after the part in which the lyrics talk about child abuse, emphasizing the point of her previous action. She then looked straight to the audience for a second and left the stage. Kristofferson then comforted her, as she cried.^[42][43]

Garden State Arts Center performance[link]

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (August 2011)

On 24 August 1990, O'Connor was scheduled to perform at the then-Garden State (now PNC Bank) Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey. The practice of the venue was to play a recording of the American national anthem before the show began. O'Connor, who said she was unaware of this practice until shortly before the show was to begin, refused to go on if the anthem was played. Venue officials acquiesced to her demand and omitted the anthem, and so O'Connor performed, but would never appear there again.

O'Connor said that she had a policy of not having the national anthem of any country played before her concerts, explaining that these were often written and composed during wars and amounted to nationalist tirades. She pointed out that she meant "no disrespect", but added that she "will not go on stage after the national anthem of a country which imposes censorship on artists. It's hypocritical and racist."

The incident made tabloid headlines, and O'Connor drew tabloid-derived criticism. Her songs were banned from some radio stations.

[edit] After Dark appearance

In January 1995 O'Connor "was so interested in a (television) discussion about abuse and the Catholic church that she rang in to ask if she could appear. They sent a taxi to her home".^[44] The Evening Standard wrote that After Dark "made a brief reappearance last Saturday night when, true to its unpredictable form, Sinéad O'Connor walked on to the set 10 minutes before closedown".^[45] Host Helena Kennedy described the event:

On that occasion, former taoiseach, Garret FitzGerald, was sharing the sofas with a Dominican monk and a representative of the Catholic church. “While we were on the air, Sinéad O’Connor called in,” says Kennedy. “Then I got a message in my earpiece to say she had just turned up at the studio. Sinéad came on and argued that abuse in families was coded in by the church because it refused to accept the accounts of women and children,” says Kennedy.^[46]

Personal life[link]

While her shaved head was initially an assertion against traditional views of women, years later, O'Connor said she had begun to grow her hair back, but that after being asked if she was Enya, O'Connor shaved it off again. "I don't feel like me unless I have my hair shaved. So even when I'm an old lady, I'm going to have it."^[47]

Romantic and family life[link]

She has been married four times. Her first marriage was to music producer John Reynolds, who co-produced several of her albums, including Universal Mother. They have one child together. They split up on good terms and Reynolds continues to work as her producer and drummer.

Her second marriage was to journalist Nicholas Sommerlad in 2002. For a period during 2006 and early 2007, she had a relationship with Frank Bonadio, the father of her fourth child. O'Connor acknowledged to the Irish Daily Mirror that the two had separated as of the weekend of 17 February 2007, citing difficulties between Bonadio and his former wife, singer Mary Coughlan.

O'Connor married long-time friend and collaborator Steve Cooney on 22 July 2010^[48][49] and divorced him in April 2011.^[50]

Her fourth marriage was to Irish therapist Barry Herridge, whom she met through the internet.^[51] They wed on 9 December 2011 in Las Vegas, but 17 days later she announced on her website that their marriage had ended, noting that they "lived together for 7 days only".^[52] The following week, on 3 January 2012, O'Connor issued a further string of internet announcements to the effect that the couple had re-united.^{[53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60]}

Sexuality[link]

In a 2000 interview in Curve, O'Connor commented, "I'm a dyke ... although I haven't been very open about that and throughout most of my life I've gone out with blokes because I haven't necessarily been terribly comfortable about being a big lesbian mule. But I actually am a dyke."^[61] However, soon after in an interview in The Independent, she stated, "I believe it was overcompensating of me to declare myself a lesbian. It was not a publicity stunt. I was trying to make someone else feel better. And have subsequently caused pain for myself. I am not in a box of any description." In a magazine article and in a programme on RTÉ (Ryan Confidential, broadcast on RTÉ on 29 May 2003), she stated that while most of her sexual relationships had been with men, she has had three relationships with women. In a May 2005 issue of Entertainment Weekly, she stated, "I'm three-quarters heterosexual, a quarter gay. I lean a bit more towards the hairy blokes".^[62]

Health[link]

On a 4 October 2007 broadcast of The Oprah Winfrey Show, O'Connor disclosed that she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder four years earlier, and had attempted suicide on her 33rd birthday on 8 December 1999.^[63]

Religion[link]

In the late 1990s, Bishop Michael Cox of the Irish Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Church (an Independent Catholic group not in communion with the Roman Catholic Church) ordained O'Connor as a priest. The Roman Catholic Church considers ordination of women to be either invalid, impossible, or both and asserts that a person attempting the sacrament of ordination upon a woman incurs excommunication.^[64] The bishop had contacted her to offer ordination following her appearance on the RTÉ's Late Late Show, during which she told the presenter, Gay Byrne, that had she not been a singer, she would have wished to have been a Catholic priest. After her ordination, she indicated that she wished to be called Mother Bernadette Mary.^[64]

In a July 2007 interview with Christianity Today, O'Connor stated that she considers herself a Christian and that she believes in core Christian concepts about the Trinity and Jesus Christ. She said, "I think God saves everybody whether they want to be saved or not. So when we die, we're all going home... I don't think God judges anybody. He loves everybody equally". She also expressed a belief in pantheism, viewing the physical universe as a body with divine "energy".^[65] In an October 2002 interview with Salon.com, she credited her Christian faith in giving her the strength to live through, and then overcome the effects of, her child abuse.^[25]

On 26 March 2010, O'Connor appeared on Anderson Cooper 360° to speak out about the Catholic sexual abuse scandal in Ireland.^[66] On 28 March 2010, she had an opinion piece published in the Sunday Edition of the Washington Post where she wrote about the Catholic sex abuse scandal and her time in a Magdalene laundry as a teenager.^[3] She wrote an article for the Sunday Independent newspaper of 17 July 2011 in response to the sexual abuse scandal in Cloyne diocese in which she described the Vatican as "a nest of devils". She wrote that an alternative church might have to be established because "Christ is being murdered by liars" in the Vatican.^[67]

Political beliefs[link]

O'Connor is a pacifist and, as such, she supports Ireland's tradition of neutrality in foreign wars.^[25]

Discography[link]

• 1987: The Lion and the Cobra
• 1990: I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got
• 1992: Am I Not Your Girl?
• 1994: Universal Mother
• 2000: Faith and Courage
• 2002: Sean-Nós Nua
• 2005: Throw Down Your Arms
• 2007: Theology
• 2012: How About I Be Me (And You Be You)?

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Guterman, Jimmy. Sinéad : Her Life and Music. Warner Books, 1991. ISBN 0-446-39254-5.
• Hayes, Dermott. Sinéad O'Connor: So Different. Omnibus, 1991. ISBN 0-7119-2482-1.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sinéad O'Connor

• Official site
• Facebook page
• Sinéad O'Connor at the Internet Movie Database
• Works by or about Sinéad O'Connor in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

Bruce Conner (November 18, 1933 – July 7, 2008) was an American artist renowned for his work in assemblage, film, drawing, sculpture, painting, collage, and photography, among other disciplines.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Born in McPherson, Kansas, Conner was raised in Wichita, Kansas, attended Wichita University (now Wichita State), and received his B.F.A in Art at Nebraska University in 1956. Conner then received a scholarship to the Brooklyn Museum Art School, where he studied for a semester. He then attended the University of Colorado on scholarship; also there was Jean Sandstedt, whom he had met at Nebraska and who would become his wife. On September 30, 1957, the two married and immediately flew to San Francisco. There, Conner quickly assimilated into the city's famous Beat community and founded the Rat Bastard Protective Association.^[1]

Early career (late 1950s / early 1960s)[link]

Conner worked in a variety of mediums from an early age. His first solo gallery show in New York City took place in 1956 and featured paintings. His first solo shows in San Francisco, in 1958 and 1959, featured paintings, drawings, prints, collages, assemblages, and sculpture.

Conner first attracted widespread attention with his moody, nylon-shrouded assemblages, complex amalgams of found objects such as women's stockings, bicycle wheels, broken dolls, fur, fringe, costume jewelry, and candles, often combined with collaged or painted surfaces. Erotically charged and tinged with echoes of both the Surrealist tradition and of San Francisco's Victorian past, these works established Conner as a leading figure within the international assemblage "movement." Generally, these works do not have precise meanings, but some of them suggest what Conner saw as the discarded beauty of modern America, the deforming impact of society on the individual, violence against women, and consumerism. Social commentary and dissension remained a common theme among his later works.

Conner also began making short movies in the late 1950s. Conner’s first and possibly most famous film was entitled A MOVIE (1958). A MOVIE (Conner explicitly titles his movies in all capital letters) was a poverty film in that instead of shooting his own footage Conner used compilations of old newsreels and other old films. He skillfully re-edited that footage, set the visuals to a recording of Ottorino Respighi's Pines of Rome, and created an entertaining and thought-provoking 12 minute film, that while non-narrative has things to say about the experience of watching a movie and the human condition. A MOVIE subsequently (in 1994) was selected for preservation by the United States National Film Registry at the Library of Congress. Conner subsequently made nearly two dozen mostly non-narrative experimental films.

A 1959 exhibition at the Spatsa Gallery in San Francisco involved an early exploration by Conner into the notion of artistic identity. To publicize the show, the gallery printed up and distributed an exhibition announcement in the form of a small printed card with black borders (in the manner of a death announcement) with the text "Works by the Late Bruce Conner."

A work of Conner's titled CHILD—a small human figure sculpted in black wax, mouth agape as if in pain and partially wrapped in nylon stockings, seated in—and partly tied by the stockings to—a small, old wooden child's high chair—literally made headlines when displayed at San Francisco's De Young Museum in December 1959 and January 1960.^[2] A meditation or perhaps comment on the then pending Caryl Chessman execution, the work horrified many. "It's Not Murder, It's Art," the San Francisco Chronicle headlined; its competitor the News-Call Bulletin headlined its article, "The Unliked 'Child'". Today, this powerful sculpture no longer exists. It was in the collection of the New York Museum of Modern Art, which kept it in storage for many years. An attempt to conserve its very fragile wax elements resulted in its disintegration.

A New York City exhibition of assemblages and collage in late 1960 garnered favorable attention in the New York Times, The New Yorker, Art News, and other national publications. Later that year Conner had the first exhibition at the Batman Gallery, in San Francisco; Conner had the entire gallery painted black to show his work, and the show received very favorable reviews locally. Another exhibition in New York in 1961 again received positive notices.

In 1961, Conner completed his second film, COSMIC RAY, a 4 minute, 43 second black-and-white quick edit collage of found footage and film that Conner had shot himself, set to a soundtrack of Ray Charles' "What'd I Say." The movie premiered in 1962; most suggest the film concerns sex and war.

Mid-career (early 1960s to circa 2000)[link]

Conner and his wife moved to Mexico circa 1962, despite the increasing popularity of his work. The two —along with their just born son— returned to USA and were living in Massachusetts in 1963, when John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Conner filmed the television coverage of the event and edited and re-edited the footage with stock footage into another meditation on violence which he titled REPORT. The film was issued several times as it was re-edited.

In 1964, Conner had a show at the Batman Gallery in San Francisco that lasted just three days, with Conner never leaving the gallery. The show was announced only via a small notice in the want ads of the Los Angeles Times. Part of the exhibition is documented in Conner's film VIVIAN.

Also in 1964, Conner decided he would no longer make assemblages, even though it was precisely such work that had brought him the most attention.

According to Conner's friend and fellow film-maker Stan Brakhage in his book Film at Wit's End, Conner was signed into a New York gallery contract in the early 1960s, which stipulated stylistic and personal restraint beyond Conner's freewheeling nature. It is unlikely that Conner would ever sign such a restrictive document. Many send-ups of artistic authorship followed, including a five page piece Conner had published in a major art publication in which Conner's making of a peanut butter, banana, bacon, lettuce, and Swiss cheese sandwich was reported step-by-step in great detail, with numerous photographs, as though it were a work of art. Just before Conner moved to Mexico in 1961, he repainted a worn sign on a road surface so that it read "LOVE."

Conner produced work in a variety of forms from the 1960s forward. He was an active force in the San Francisco counterculture of the mid-1960s as a collaborator in light shows at the legendary Family Dog at the Avalon Ballroom. He also made—using the new-at-the-the-time felt-tip pens—intricate black-and-white mandala-like drawings, many of which he subsequently (in the very early 1970s) lithographed into prints. One of Conner's drawings was used (in boldly colored variations) on the cover of the August, 1967 issue (#9) of the San Francisco Oracle.^[3] He also made collages made from 19th-century engraving images, which he first exhibited as THE DENNIS HOPPER ONE MAN SHOW.

He also completed a number of short films in the mid-1960s, in addition to REPORT and VIVIAN. these include TEN SECOND FILM (1965), an advertisement for the New York Film Festival which the Festival rejected as being "too fast," BREAKAWAY (1966), featuring music sung by and danced to by Toni Basil), THE WHITE ROSE (1967), documenting the removal of fellow artist Jay DeFeo's magnum opus from her San Francisco apartment, with Miles Davis' "Sketches of Spain" as the soundtrack), and LOOKING FOR MUSHROOMS (1967), a three minute color wild ride with music by the Beatles.

During the 1970s Conner focused on drawing and photography, including many photos of the late 1970s West Coast punk rock scene. A 1978 film used Devo's "Mongoloid" as a soundtrack. Conner in the 1970s also created along with photographer Edmund Shea a series of life-size photograms called ANGELS. Conner would pose in front of large pieces of photo paper, which after being exposed to light and then developed produced images of Conner's body in white against a dark background. Conner also began to draw elaborately-folded inkblots.

In the 1980s and 1990s Conner continued to work on collages, including ones using religious imagery, and inkblot drawings that have been shown in numerous exhibitions, including the 1997 Whitney Biennial. Throughout Conner's entire body of work, the recurrence of religious imagery and symbology continues to underscore the essentially visionary nature of his work.^[4]

In 1999, to accompany a traveling exhibition, a major monograph of his work was published by the Walker Art Center, titled 2000 BC: The Bruce Conner Story, Part II. The exhibition, which featured specially built in-gallery screening rooms for Conner's films as well as selected assemblages, felt-tip pen and inkblot drawings, engraving collages, photograms, and conceptual pieces, was seen at the Walker, the Modern Art Museum in Fort Worth, the de Young in San Francisco, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.

Late career (circa 2000 to 2008)[link]

Conner announced his retirement at the time of the "2000 BC" exhibition, but in fact continued to make art until shortly before his death. However, much of this work, including in particular the many inkblot drawings he made, including a series responding to 9/11, were presented using pseudonyms or the name "Anonymous." Conner also made collages from old engravings, and completed (depending on how they are counted) three or four experimental films. He also used computer-based graphics programs to translate older engraving collages into large-sized woven tapestries, and made paper-based prints in that way as well. Various other artistic projects were completed as well, including in the year of his death a large assemblage titled KING.^[5][6] Conner also in late 2007 directed and approved an outdoor installation of a large painting, resulting in what one observer suggested is a final work-in-progress.^[7]

Films[link]

His innovative technique of skillfully montaged shots from pre-existing borrowed or found footage can be seen in his first film A MOVIE (1958). His subsequent films are most often fast-paced collages of found footage or of footage shot by Conner; however, he made numerous films, including most notably CROSSROADS, his 30 plus minute meditation on the atom bomb, that are almost achingly deliberate in their pace. Conner was among the first to use pop music for film sound tracks. His films have inspired generations of filmmakers, and are now considered to be the precursors of the music video genre. When told of his impact on music videos and his status as "the Father of MTV,", Conner would reply, "Not my fault."

Conner's works are often metamedia in nature, offering commentary and critque on the media — especially television and its advertisements — and its effect on American culture and society. His film REPORT (1967) which features repetitive, found footage of the Kennedy assassination paired with a soundtrack of radio broadcasts of the event and consumerist and other imagery — including perhaps most notably the film's final image of a close-up of a "SELL" button — may be the Conner film with the most visceral impact. REPORT "perfectly captures Conner's anger over the commercialization of Kennedy's death" while also examining the media's mythic construction of JFK and Jackie — a hunger for images that "guaranteed that they would be transformed into idols, myths, Gods."^[8]

Conner's collaborations with musicians include Devo (MONGOLOID), Terry Riley (LOOKING FOR MUSHROOMS (long version) and EASTER MORNING), Patrick Gleeson and Terry Riley (CROSSROADS), Brian Eno and David Byrne (AMERICA IS WAITING, MEA CULPA) and three more films with Gleeson (TAKE THE 5:10 TO DREAMLAND, TELEVISION ASSASSINATION, and LUKE). His film of dancer and choreographer Toni Basil, BREAKAWAY (1966), featured a song recorded by Basil.

Prints and tapestries[link]

Conner also continued to work on editioned prints and tapestries during the last 10 years of his life. These works often used digital technology to revisit earlier imagery and themes; for example, his Jacquard tapestry editions, created in collaboration with Donald Farnsworth of Magnolia Editions in Oakland, CA, were translated from digitally manipulated scans of small-scale paper collages, made in the 1990s from engraving illustrations from Bible stories.^[9][10]

Death[link]

Conner, who had twice announced his own death as a conceptual art event or prank,^[11] died on 7 July 2008, and is survived by his wife, American artist Jean Sandstedt Conner, and his son, Robert.

Filmography[link]

• A MOVIE (1958)
• COSMIC RAY (1961)
• VIVIAN (1964)
• TEN SECOND FILM (1965)
• EASTER MORNING RAGA (1966)
• BREAKAWAY (1966)
• REPORT (1963–1967)
• THE WHITE ROSE (1967)
• LOOKING FOR MUSHROOMS (1967)
• PERMIAN STRATA (1969)
• MARILYN TIMES FIVE (1968–1973)
• CROSSROADS (1976)
• VALSE TRISTE (1978)
• TAKE THE 5:10 TO DREAMLAND (1977)
• MONGOLOID (1978)
• MEA CULPA (1981)
• AMERICA IS WAITING (1982)
• TELEVISION ASSASSINATION (1995)
• LOOKING FOR MUSHROOMS (long version, 1996)
• LUKE (2004)
• EVE-RAY-FOREVER (three screen installation) (2006)
• THREE SCREEN RAY (three screen installation) (2006)
• HIS EYE IS ON THE SPARROW (2006)
• EASTER MORNING (2008)

Exhibition[link]

• 2010: Les Rencontres d'Arles festival, France;

Contributions[link]

2008 Life on Mars, the 2008 Carnegie International [1]

Galleries[link]

Bruce Conner is represented by Gallery Paule Anglim in San Francisco, CA.^[12]

Selected bibliography[link]

• Sophie Dannenmüller: "Bruce Conner et les Rats de l'Art", Les Cahiers du Musée national d'art moderne, Editions du Centre Pompidou, Paris, n° 107, avril 2009, p. 52-75. (text in French)
• 2000 BC: The Bruce Conner Story Part II. Exh. cat. edited by Joan Rothfuss. Contributions by Kathy Halbreich, Bruce Jenkins, Peter Boswell. Walker Art Center, Minneapolis 1999.

References[link]

External links[link]

• San Francisco Chronicle obituary retrieved July 8, 2008
• New York Times obituary 7/9/08
• The Guardian (of London) obituary
• "An Appraisal: An Artist of the Cutting-Room Floor", by Manohla Dargis, New York Times July 12, 2008; retrieved July 12, 2008.
• "Appreciation: Humor was Bruce Conner's Art", by Kenneth Baker, San Francisco Chronicle July 11, 2008
• Letter from Bruce Conner in The Brooklyn Rail (September, 2005)
• Watch Bruce Conner's film, "MEA CULPA" with music by Brian Eno and David Byrne, from "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts".
• Bruce Conner at IMDB
• Selected works by Bruce Conner in the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
• Bruce Conner is represented by Gallery Paule Anglim in San Francisco, CA
• On Bruce Conner (may he rest in peace); Memorial by Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore, 2008
• Works by or about Bruce Conner in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• "21st Century BC" (an accounting of Conner's art work during the final approximately ten years of his life