“It was one of the strangest shows of my radio career. Listeners were upset,
guests in studio were emotional and no one, including me, could quite believe what was being said” – Dee Woods
On the evening of July 26th, 2023, news began to filter through social media that
nobody could quite believe: Irish singer, songwriter and trailblazer Sinead
O’Connor had died suddenly at the age of 56.
Whilst fans and artists alike were still coming to terms with the news, wheels were
immediately set in motion to ensure Radio Nova played its part to honour the
iconic woman who’s penned and sang some of the most iconic songs the world
has ever known, and to allow listeners to share their stories of how this songstress
impacted their lives.
Less than 24 hours after the shock news broke, Nothing Compares To Sinead O’Connor with Dee Woods was on the air.
Listen as Dee Woods plays some of the best music that Sinead created and talks
to those that worked with her, those who knew her: both before and after her rise
to [reluctant] stardom and the listeners that were so affected by her passing.
It’s a rollercoaster of an hour as Dee and her guests remember a woman who
wasn’t afraid to stand up for the truth, to sing with all her heart but still had that
twinkle of humour in her eye.
CLICK TO LISTEN BELOW
Dee has an in-depth chat with deputy editor of Hot Press Stuart Clarke: a man who knew Sinead before most, even before she released her demo when she was doing kissograms for cash! Dee and Stuart chat about how Sinead burst into the music scene, how she confided in him that she didn’t want to be a pop star, that infamous SNL picture-ripping moment that changed everything but how it didn’t change her beliefs as an artist. Stuart tells how she always kept her humour and wit and even earned a fan in Nina Simone!
Radio Nova’s man at the movies Clint Drieberg joins Dee to talk about the recent release of the ‘Nothing Compares’ movie documentary about Sinead O’Connor’s rise to fame and the global reaction she got for both her work and outspoken views as an artist throughout her career. We hear from the movie’s director Kathryn Ferguson about what it was like as a Sinead O’Connor fan to make this film, and her reasons for asking the singer herself, to be its narrator.
Dee is also joined in studio by an audibly shocked Mick Pyro of Republic of Loose, who performed with Sinead many times and shared what it was like to share a stage with such an icon.
