Sinéad O'Connor's Cause of Death Revealed One Year Later

Irish singer-songwriter Sinéad O’Connor has died of natural causes, including pulmonary disease and asthma, according to her official death report.

In January, O’Connor was determined to have died from “natural causes” by the Southwark Coroners Court in London, though no further details were given. 

“This is to confirm that Ms O’Connor died of natural causes. The coroner has therefore ceased their involvement in her death,” the coroner’s office said in a statement to Variety at the time.

However, a death report was filed last week by her first husband John Reynolds cites the formal cause as “exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and bronchial asthma together with low-grade lower respiratory-tract infection.”

O’Connor died on July 26, 2023 at the age of 56. The “Nothing Compares 2 U” singer was found “unresponsive” at her home in London and pronounced dead at the scene. 

At the time, British police said that they were not treating her death as suspicious and had handed it over to the coroner’s office to determine the cause of death.

“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinéad,” her family said in a statement. “Her family and friends are devastated and have requested privacy at this very difficult time.”

O’Connor broke through internationally with the release of her second album, “I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got,” in 1990. 

The record included her arrangement of “Nothing Compares 2 U,” a song originally written by Prince and released under his side project the Family. Her rendition of the song reached No. 1 in several countries, including Ireland, where it stayed at the top of the charts for 11 weeks.

It earned a Grammy nomination for record of the year and best female vocal rock performance. “I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got” won the Grammy for best alternative music performance.

O’Connor had been outspoken about her decades-long struggle with mental illness. In 2022, her son Shane died by suicide at the age of 17. Her final Twitter post was a link to a “Great Tibetan Compassion Mantra,” which she captioned “for all mothers of suicided children.”

The month before her departure, O’Connor wrote on Facebook that she was moving back to London after 23 years with plans to release a new album in the next year. 

She also had plans to tour in Australia and New Zealand in 2024, as well as Europe and the U.S. in 2025.

Tributes poured in for O’Connor after the news of her death, including legendary “Live Aid” leader Bob Geldof. 

“She was relentless, she had a voice like none of us had ever heard, so pure,” he said in a statement. “She meant a lot to everybody, she meant a lot to us. Her voice represented her soul and spirit. And whenever we hear that, we will always be with a great woman.”