Members of the public were invited to mourn the death of Irish singer Sinéad O’Connor.
O’Connor was buried in a private funeral near Bray, Ireland — a former home of the musician — her family told The Irish Times. Before the burial, fans were encouraged to attend a processional in order to say their goodbyes.
A vintage VW camper van with rooftop speakers blasting Bob Marley’s song “Natural Mystic” led a hearse at walking pace through a thick crowd of admirers along the waterfront in Bray. O’Connor said she loved Marley’s music.
SINEAD O’CONNOR INSTRUCTED HER KIDS ON WHAT TO DO IF SHE DIED YEARS BEFORE HER SUDDEN PASSING
Devotees of O’Connor’s singing and those touched by her sometimes-troubled life tossed roses and other flowers on the hearse. One group waited for over an hour before the procession began. They spent the time singing O’Connor’s music.
“Sinéad loved living in Bray and the people in it. With this procession, her family would like to acknowledge the outpouring of love for her from the people of Co[unty] Wicklow and beyond, since she left last week, to go to another place,” O’Connor’s family said in a statement to The Irish Times.
The statement noted that the public could pay their respects as her funeral procession progressed “along the seafront in Bray, past the home that she lived in for 15 years, Montobello, Strand Road in Bray, Co Wicklow.”
Representatives for O’Connor did not immediately return Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Ruth O’Shea, who had come to the coastal town of Bray south of Dublin with her two daughters, became teary as she spoke of O’Connor’s significance, saying she had “meant the world” to her.
“She was so rebellious and empowering and inspiring, and my mother hated me listening to her music,” O’Shea said. “She was just brilliant. Brilliant — I loved her, and then the kids, I suppose by osmosis because I played her when they were both growing up, they’d go, ‘Oh God, mom’s listening to Sinéad O’Connor, she’s obviously had a rough day.’ She just gave me hope. And I just loved her, I loved her.”
O’Connor’s death was announced July 26.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinéad,” the singer’s family said in a statement reported by the BBC and RTE. “Her family and friends are devastated and have requested privacy at this very difficult time.”
No cause of death has been revealed at this time. O’Connor was 56 years old.
O’Connor shared a video to Twitter in the weeks before her sudden death, which police are not treating as “suspicious.” In the video, O’Connor appeared to be in a good mood as she gave her followers a tour of her new apartment.
“I’ll make a video because some of you are saying you don’t believe it’s my account,” she said at the start of the video. “It’s my account.”
Before showing her followers her new “Johnny f—ing Cash guitar” that she planned to “write some tunes on,” O’Connor revealed why she did not really want to make the video in the first place.
“I think we’re in HD, I look like s— either way, which is why I didn’t want to make a video,” she noted. “But, you know, the way your kid unfortunately passing away, it isn’t good for one’s body or soul, to be fair.”
O’Connor’s son Shane was found dead in Ireland in January 2022 after O’Connor notified authorities that he had gone missing. Police said the missing person case was closed after a body was found in the eastern coastal town of Bray, about 12 miles south of Dublin.
O’Connor gained fame in the 1990s following the release of her hit cover of the Prince song “Nothing Compares 2 U.” The song was named the No. 1 World Single in 1990 by the Billboard Music Awards, according to the Irish Times.
She was a lifelong non-conformist — she would say that she shaved her head in response to record executives pressuring her to be conventionally glamorous — but her political and cultural stances and troubled private life often overshadowed her music.
In 1992, O’Connor tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II on “Saturday Night Live.” She later explained she saw the move as putting her career “on the right track” following her success.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.