Sinead O’Connor has removed her hit song Nothing Compares 2 U from her live show, saying she has stopped singing the Prince-composed classic for good.
In a statement at her Facebook page Sinead said:
OK, the time has come for me to cease singing Nothing Compares 2U. The first principle of the manner in which I’m trained as a singer (Bel Canto) is we never sing a song we don’t emotionally identify with. After twenty-five years of singing it, nine months or so ago I finally ran out of anything I could use in order to bring some emotion to it. I don’t want audiences to be disappointed coming along to a show and then not hearing it, so am letting you know here that you won’t. If I were to sing it just to please people, I wouldn’t be doing my job right, because my job is to be emotionally available. I’d be lying. You’d be getting a lie. My job is to give you honesty. I’m trained in honesty. I can’t act. It just isn’t in my training. I have ceased singing other songs over the years for the same reason.
O’Connor recorded the song as a tribute to her mother who had passed away in 1985 as well. Her version was released on her second album I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, released in 1990. The album was nominated for four Grammy Awards in 1991, winning the award for Best Alternative Music Performance. O’Connor refused to accept the nominations and the award. In 2003, the album was ranked number 406 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The album sold 7 million copies worldwide.
