Sinead O’Connor and the story of her second Prince cover – after vow ‘never to sing another’
Sinead O’Connor had a complicated relationship with the single that skyrocketed her to international fame.
Nothing Compares 2 U was, famously, written by Prince for The Family, but it will always be O’Connor‘s song. Like Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You and Amy Winehouse’s Valerie, it’s a cover that transcended the original.
Released in 1990, O’Connor’s stunning vocal performance, coupled with the video that made it one of the all-time greats, meant her version topped charts around the world.
Prince in 1985. Pic: AP/Liu Heung Shing
“I love it, it’s great!” Prince reportedly said publicly of the song. “I look for cosmic meaning in everything. I think we just took that song as far as we could, then someone else was supposed to come along and pick it up.”
But O’Connor would recall in interviews that privately, the star was not happy.
Years later, after meeting Fun Lovin’ Criminals drummer and Prince fan Frank Benbini at a charity gig in Dublin, he asked her if she would record a different song for an album of Prince covers, Purple Reggae.
Released in 2014 by Radio Riddler, Benbini’s reggae side project, the album also featured collaborations with Suggs, Beverley Knight and Campbell.
But O’Connor initially declined, saying she had told herself she would never sing another Prince song.
“I discovered that she had a massive love for reggae music – which those that have followed her career will know,” Benbini tells Sky News. “We just hit it off. Obviously everybody knows Sinead really for Nothing Compares 2 U and at the time we were doing a tribute to Prince, while Prince was still alive.”
They were recording songs from the album Purple Rain, including the single, I Would Die 4 U. “That was the song I always thought Sinead would sound amazing on,” he says. “I spoke to her about it and she said: ‘I always vowed never to do another Prince song.’ But I said I’d send it anyway.”
‘She was misunderstood, nothing like how she was perceived’
O’Connor agreed and the pair swapped numbers and stayed in touch. When she eventually heard his demo, she agreed to record the version together at a studio in Dublin.
The singer was “absolutely amazing”, says Benbini. “She was obviously a troubled soul over the years and I think at times very much misunderstood. Especially by some of the press, I think some were mean to her, just simply because they didn’t understand her. But she was such a strong woman – she came from performing on the streets of Dublin busking, so she had tremendously thick skin.
“I’d heard stories about her – and I’ve worked with some famous artists in the studio, so I’m thinking, what’s this going to be like? But she was super humble and really funny. She was nothing like she’d been perceived to be over the years… there was an air of shyness about her but also an air of, she knew what she wanted, knew who she was. She didn’t have any airs or graces, she was very much down to earth, which is quite rare in rock’n’roll.”
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‘One of the most complex pop stars’
In fact, O’Connor only asked for one thing. “A cheese sandwich. That’s all she wanted, all day. ‘I don’t want any butter on it, Frank. No butter.’ So just brown bread and cheddar cheese? That’s it? ‘Yeah.’ No problem!”
O’Connor had something that many others could learn from, he says. “A lot of new artists should take a little pinch of Sinead – and that is, you know, to always be yourself.”
Read more:
An unapologetic singer’s rise to stardom
‘Beyond compare’: Tributes paid to O’Connor
He says there was never any discussion about O’Connor singing the Prince cover that made her famous.
“I’m an uber Prince fan,” Benbini says. “But, you know, she told me one or two stories… how Prince summoned her to his house in LA at the time and he wasn’t very happy because she was doing some press on an American chat show, and she swore. He said, ‘if you’re representing my song, don’t use filthy language’.” He laughs. “She told him to do one.”
Benbini continues: “For the longest time, I think a lot of people didn’t even realise Nothing Compares 2 U was a Prince song. They just thought it was a Sinead song, because it was such a beautiful approach. The delivery is just ghostly beautiful.
“She said she’d vowed she’d never cover another Prince song. But I think coming from the world of reggae… that was really what got her to do I Would Die 4 U. It was the second time she ever did a Prince song, which I’m super proud of and it’s such a beautiful version.”
‘She’s so much more than Nothing Compares 2 U’
Despite being disappointed by her meeting with Prince, O’Connor was not bitter, telling Benbini she still had great respect for his work. “‘Don’t get me wrong, he’s the most incredible writer’, she said. She loved his songwriting, his words.”
Paying tribute, Benbini says he hopes a positive to be taken from O’Connor’s death can be people discovering, or rediscovering, her music.
“I’ve listened to [our version of] I Would Die 4 U, since finding out the news, over and over,” he says. “I’ve not listened to it for years and it’s really beautiful.
“The one thing you can take from this is that there’s a whole legacy of work she’s done – and she’s so much more than just Nothing Compares 2 U – she’s got a wealth of music. I hope people go digging now and find all the beautiful things she managed to get on record. People should celebrate her work. It’s a great way of honouring someone.”
Angelina Jolie says although she appreciates being an artist, she would prefer for her legacy to be “a good mother” and to be known for her “belief in equality and human rights”.
The Oscar-winning actress stars as Maria Callas in the new Pablo Larrain film about the opera singer’s life.
Pic: StudioCanal
She has called Maria “the hardest” and “most challenging” role she has had in her career and put months of preparation into immersing herself into the world of opera.
Jolie, who recently reached a divorce settlement with actor Brad Pitt, told Sky News: “To be very candid, it was the therapy I didn’t realise I needed. I had no idea how much I was holding in and not letting out.
“So, the challenge wasn’t the technical [side of opera], it was an emotional experience to find my voice, to be in my body, to express. You have to give every single part of yourself.”
The biopic combines the voice of the Maleficent actress with recordings of Maria Callas.
Jolie believes it “would be a crime to not have [Callas’] voice through this because, in many ways, she is very present in this film”.
Who was Maria Callas?
Born in New York in 1923, Maria Callas was the daughter of Greek immigrants who moved back to Athens at the age of 13 with her mother and sister.
After enrolling at the Athens Conservatory, she made her professional debut at 17 and went on to become one of the most famous faces of opera, travelling around the world and performing at Covent Garden in London, The Met in New York and La Scala in Milan.
Callas’s final operatic performance took place at Covent Garden in 1965 when she was 41 but she continued to work conducting master classes at Juilliard School, doing concert tours and starring in the 1969 film Medea.
Written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, Maria focuses on the artist’s final years in the 1970s when she moved to Paris and disappeared from public view.
She died on 16 September 1977 at the age of 53.
Pic: StudioCanal
Jolie on changing motivations as an actor
Maria follows the life of an artist fully consumed by the art she creates and even remarks that “happiness never developed a beautiful melody”.
Reflecting on her own life in the spotlight, Jolie said she noticed her own career motivations change over the years.
“There’s this kind of study of being human that we do when we create, and we communicate with an audience because our work is not in isolation – it’s a connection.
“I think when I was younger, I had different questions about being human and different feelings and now as I’ve gotten older, I understand some things and now I have different questions.
“It’s a matter of life, right? And so maybe that’s interesting that this now is a character really contemplating death and really contemplating the toll of certain things in life that I, of course, couldn’t have understood in my 20s”.
Jolie at the New York Film Festival in September with three of her children (L-R) Pax, Zahara and Maddox. Pic: AP
A family affair
Two of Jolie’s children, Maddox and Pax, took on production assistant roles during the filming of Maria and witnessed their mother perform opera for the first time in public.
She says the film allowed them to create new experiences together and for her children to see her approach to playing a difficult role.
“Everyone in my home, we all give each other space to be who we are and we’re all different.
“I’m the mom, but I’m also an artist and a person and so my family has been very kind and gives me their understanding. They make fun of me, and they support me and just as you’d hope it would be.”
She adds: “When you play somebody who is dealing with so much pain, it’s very important to come home to some kindness.”
Maria is in cinemas now.
Tom Holland’s dad has confirmed his son’s engagement to Zendaya – revealing how the 28-year-old meticulously planned the proposal.
Zendaya, also 28, sparked engagement rumours when she attended last Sunday’s Golden Globes wearing a sparkling diamond on her ring finger.
Neither star has publicly addressed the rumours but Tom’s comedian father, Dominic Holland, has now confirmed the pair are set to wed.
He wrote in a post on his Patreon account: “Tom, as you know by now was very incredibly well prepared. He had purchased a ring.
“He had spoken with her father and gained permission to propose to his daughter.”
“Tom had everything planned out… When, where, how, what to say, what to wear,” he added.
Zendaya arrived at the Golden Globes with a noticeable piece of new jewellery. Pic: Invision/AP
Dominic also noted that while most men worry about being able to afford an engagement ring, he suspects his actor son was “more concerned with the stone, its size and clarity, its housing, which jeweller”.
Tom and Zendaya met on the set of Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2016, when they played the titular hero and his love interest MJ, respectively. Their romance was confirmed in 2021.
In his post, Tom’s father admitted fears over whether being in the spotlight could put a strain on the couple’s relationship.
He wrote: “I do fret that their combined stardom will amplify their spotlight and the commensurate demands on them and yet they continually confound me by handling everything with aplomb.”
“And even though show business is a messy place for relationships and particularly so for famous couples as they crash and burn in public and are too numerous to mention […] yet somehow right at the same time, I am completely confident they will make a successful union.”
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Paris Hilton’s home destroyed in fires
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Zendaya rose to fame after landing a role in Disney sitcom Shake It Up, and became a household name after starring in Euphoria.
Holland – who has starred in three Spider-Man films opposite his now-fiancée – made his stage debut in Billy Elliot the Musical in 2008.
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