One-hit wonder Sinead O'Connor

Despite the enormous amount of media attention paid to Irish singer and songsmith Sinead O'Connor of Dublin, her one really big hit song was a ballad about heartbreak written by Prince, Nothing Compares 2 U., big in 1990. Having had a difficult childhood, reprtedly including domestic abuse plus Catholic reform school, it is little wonder that Sinead has been an angry rebel as an adult.

Her first musical group called itself Ton Ton Macoute, named for the zombies of Haitian lore. Shaved bald and performing with a rebellious stare, she performed solo and with other singers and among other things, alienaed Roman Catholics by her harsh words and lyrics critical of pedophile priests. In America, her opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq especially alienated conservatives. Despite having had four children, she came out in 2000 as a lesbian. In 2003, she asked that her fans no longer view her as a celebrity, saying that what she really wanted was privacy. Two years later, she decided that celebrity wasn't really all that bad and began a musical comeback.