Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2023 9:05:17 GMT
In 1990, Sinéad O'Connor scored a worldwide hit with Nothing Compares 2 U, a song of unspeakable loss and heartbreak.
It was the defining moment of her career - one that thrust her unwillingly into the mainstream.
But the story of the video, and how she came to record it, is full of surprising twists and turns.
After her death at the age of 56, here's a closer look at how she recorded her most famous song.
It's 15 July, 1984 and Prince has just flown back from Dallas, where he watched the Jacksons' Victory tour. As soon as he steps off the plane, he heads to the recording studio.
There, with only his engineer Susan Rogers in attendance, he writes and records the initial version of Nothing Compares 2 U in a matter of hours.
"I was amazed at how beautiful it was," Rogers told Duane Tudahl, in his book Prince & The Purple Rain studio sessions.
"He took his notebook and he went off to the bedroom, wrote the lyrics very quickly, came back out and sang it. I was very impressed with it."
Rogers theorised that the song was written about Prince's housekeeper, Sandy Scipioni, who had been forced to quit when her father died unexpectedly of a heart attack.
"Sandy was the person who made sure he had his favourite beverage, which was Five Alive, and she made sure the house was clean, and that there were fresh flowers on the piano, and that the socks and underwear were washed," Rogers told BBC 6 Music in 2018.
"She had been gone and Prince's mood was getting darker and darker. He would just ask, 'When is Sandy coming back?' That might have been the inspiration for the song."
Prince's friend, Jerome Benton, had a different story - saying Prince wrote the song for him after he split up with his fiancée.
Either way, the musician felt the song didn't suit his public image at the time. He decided to give it away to The Family, a band he'd formed around his then-girlfriend Susannah Melvoin, and the singer Paul Peterson.
Prince removed his vocals, added some orchestral overdubs and handed the song over. It was released on The Family's sole album in 1985, which promptly tanked, and the group split up.
Nothing Compares 2 U was never released as a single, and seemed destined for obscurity until Sinéad O'Connor's manager, Fachtna O'Ceallaigh, remembered it and suggested she cover it for her second album, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got.
Other accounts suggest she was introduced to the song by Steve Fargnoli, who had looked after Prince in the Purple Rain era, and took over as O'Connor's manager around the time of the recording.
Either way, O'Connor immediately connected with the track. She and O'Ceallaigh were a couple, but their relationship was on the rocks. Prince's lovelorn lyrics matched her own state of mind. If he was gone, she could do whatever she wanted, she could see whomever she chose - but nothing would compare to him.
"They were in the process of breaking up when we recorded Nothing Compares 2 U," said Chris Birkett, who co-produced and engineered the song, in an interview with Sound On Sound.
"That's probably why she did such a good vocal. She came into the studio, did it in one take, double-tracked it straight away and it was perfect because she was totally into the song. It mirrored her situation."
At this point, it's a good idea to go and listen to The Family's original recording or Prince's demo, which was released in 2018. The song is there, but it's all dressed up in Paisley finery. Every line ends with a baroque piano figure, the bridge is drowning in syrupy strings, there's even a saxophone solo.
Whatever emotion Prince was channelling, he did his best to hide it. O'Connor did the opposite.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-66320163
It was the defining moment of her career - one that thrust her unwillingly into the mainstream.
But the story of the video, and how she came to record it, is full of surprising twists and turns.
After her death at the age of 56, here's a closer look at how she recorded her most famous song.
It's 15 July, 1984 and Prince has just flown back from Dallas, where he watched the Jacksons' Victory tour. As soon as he steps off the plane, he heads to the recording studio.
There, with only his engineer Susan Rogers in attendance, he writes and records the initial version of Nothing Compares 2 U in a matter of hours.
"I was amazed at how beautiful it was," Rogers told Duane Tudahl, in his book Prince & The Purple Rain studio sessions.
"He took his notebook and he went off to the bedroom, wrote the lyrics very quickly, came back out and sang it. I was very impressed with it."
Rogers theorised that the song was written about Prince's housekeeper, Sandy Scipioni, who had been forced to quit when her father died unexpectedly of a heart attack.
"Sandy was the person who made sure he had his favourite beverage, which was Five Alive, and she made sure the house was clean, and that there were fresh flowers on the piano, and that the socks and underwear were washed," Rogers told BBC 6 Music in 2018.
"She had been gone and Prince's mood was getting darker and darker. He would just ask, 'When is Sandy coming back?' That might have been the inspiration for the song."
Prince's friend, Jerome Benton, had a different story - saying Prince wrote the song for him after he split up with his fiancée.
Either way, the musician felt the song didn't suit his public image at the time. He decided to give it away to The Family, a band he'd formed around his then-girlfriend Susannah Melvoin, and the singer Paul Peterson.
Prince removed his vocals, added some orchestral overdubs and handed the song over. It was released on The Family's sole album in 1985, which promptly tanked, and the group split up.
Nothing Compares 2 U was never released as a single, and seemed destined for obscurity until Sinéad O'Connor's manager, Fachtna O'Ceallaigh, remembered it and suggested she cover it for her second album, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got.
Other accounts suggest she was introduced to the song by Steve Fargnoli, who had looked after Prince in the Purple Rain era, and took over as O'Connor's manager around the time of the recording.
Either way, O'Connor immediately connected with the track. She and O'Ceallaigh were a couple, but their relationship was on the rocks. Prince's lovelorn lyrics matched her own state of mind. If he was gone, she could do whatever she wanted, she could see whomever she chose - but nothing would compare to him.
"They were in the process of breaking up when we recorded Nothing Compares 2 U," said Chris Birkett, who co-produced and engineered the song, in an interview with Sound On Sound.
"That's probably why she did such a good vocal. She came into the studio, did it in one take, double-tracked it straight away and it was perfect because she was totally into the song. It mirrored her situation."
At this point, it's a good idea to go and listen to The Family's original recording or Prince's demo, which was released in 2018. The song is there, but it's all dressed up in Paisley finery. Every line ends with a baroque piano figure, the bridge is drowning in syrupy strings, there's even a saxophone solo.
Whatever emotion Prince was channelling, he did his best to hide it. O'Connor did the opposite.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-66320163
