Fox News Flash top entertainment headlines January 9
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Sinead O'Connor's cause of death has officially been released.
After the Irish singer was found unresponsive in her London home last July, with officials pronouncing her dead at the scene, Fox News Digital can confirm that she died of natural causes.
John Thompson, a clerk of Southwark Coroners Court, told Fox News Digital that because it's been ruled that O'Connor's death was natural, "the coroner has therefore ceased their involvement in her death." More specifics on what led to her passing are not available at this time.
In a 2007 interview with Oprah Winfrey, O'Connor revealed she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, but in 2014 she said doctors told her the diagnosis was wrong. (David Corio/Redferns)
O'Connor was found on the morning of July 26, and the next day Metropolitan Police announced that her death was "not being treated as suspicious."
The family of the "Nothing Compares 2 U" singer was notified by police and later released a statement mourning her death.
"It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinéad. Her family and friends are devastated and have requested privacy at this very difficult time," the singer's family said in a statement reported by both RTE and the BBC.
O'Connor, 56, is survived by two sons, Jake and Yeshua, as well as daughter Roisin. She was preceded in death by her son Shane, who passed away in 2022.
Sinéad O'Connor was discovered at a young age when drummer Paul Byrne heard her sing a cover of Barbra Streisand's "Evergreen." Just a few years later, she released her first album, "The Lion and the Cobra," in 1987. (Stacia Timonere/Getty Images)
The singer experienced the height of her popularity in 1990 with the release of her album "I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got." This album contained her biggest hit, the ballad "Nothing Compares 2 U," which was originally written by Prince and recorded with his short-lived band, The Family. He never released the song as a single, leaving room for O'Connor to make it her own, which she undoubtedly did.
SINEAD O'CONNOR INSTRUCTED HER KIDS ON WHAT TO DO IF SHE DIED YEARS BEFORE HER SUDDEN PASSING
Another moment that cemented O'Connor's place in pop culture history took place in 1992 when she was a musical guest on "Saturday Night Live." After an acapella performance of Bob Marley's song "War," she memorably held up a photo of Pope John Paul II, ripped it to pieces and said, "Fight the real enemy," all while looking intensely at the camera.
In 2018, O'Connor announced she had converted to Islam and that she changed her name to Shuhada' Davitt. Around this time, she took to Twitter to criticize Christians and Jews, calling them "disgusting," apologizing for her words in 2019. (Christophe Ketels/AFP via Getty Images)
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The backlash of the controversial move was swift, with NBC banning her from "Saturday Night Live" for life. The vice president of the network at the time said, "It goes without saying that the network does not condone what Ms. O'Connor did. Whatever her motivations, they were of a personal nature and certainly did not reflect the opinion of the network or the 'SNL' staff. We would never authorize anything like that," per the Washington Post.
Her career never recovered. While she maintained a fan base, she wasn't able to reach the same commercial level of success as she had then. She released a few more albums in the following years, with her last being 2014's "I'm Not Bossy, I'm the Boss."
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Sinead O'Connor performs at Camp Bestival at Lulworth Castle on Aug. 3, 2014, in Wareham, United Kingdom. (Rob Ball/Redferns via Getty Images)
Reflecting upon the incident in her 2021 book "Rememberings," O'Connor shared, "A lot of people say or think that tearing up the pope’s photo derailed my career.… That’s not how I feel about it.… I feel that having a number-one record derailed my career and my tearing the photo put me back on the right track."
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In 2020, she released a single, a cover of gospel singer Mahalia Jackson's "Trouble of the World." She was working on a new album at the time of her death, a work she was planning to title "No Veteran Dies Alone." According to her producer, David Holmes, she only had one song left to record when she passed away.
Fox News Digital's Caroline Thayer contributed to this report.
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