This comes out of the blue. I knew of the event, I saw the messages pass by. Yet until the BBC article (at https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-66432558) I had no idea what an impact she had. I remember the single Nothing Compares to U, I have the single CD, I also bought the album but that is pretty much as good as it got. I was one of millions that got the song and until recently I was unaware that it was a song made by Prince. It was then that I learned that she had dwarfed him with his one song. I am not dissing Prince, he has made his mark on the world of music, but to be that good and then to be surpassed by someone with your own song takes a special kind of musician (or singer) and Sinead was that.
Today I saw the BBC article with images (image below is from the Independent) and then it hit me. To have thousands of people pay respect to a musician takes a very special kind of musician.
And it seems important to me that we stop for a moment to remember her, not because of what I say, but when that many people want to pay their last respect, when millions more on a global level say goodbye to this woman. There is no doubt that this woman was special and to coin a phrase, as far as I can tell nothing compared to her. Born in Dublin on December 8th 1966. This Irish lady’s best-selling album was “I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got” which sold over 4.95 million copies. That puts her in the highest ranking order, especially as this album was released in 1990. This puts her right up there with Elton John, Phil Collins, Whitney Houston and Madonna. I never knew this until I started to dig a little. And no matter how we like her music (or not), that is an achievement worth remembering. So I take a moment of silence, I bow to her album and raise a glass in her honour. I do not know much about her, or her life. But the massive amount of people paying her last respect give me moment to realise that not knowing her makes me the lesser person. There was no intent, but the realisation that what she achieved was beyond remarkable needs to be remembered and that is what I am doing now.
I would like to end with something profound, but words fail me at this time. So take a moment and pause. Think of the people you knew in the past, the movies they were in, the music they made and think of the happy feelings these moments instilled.
Have a great day.
Lawrence van Rijn - Law Lord to be 