O'Connor's mother Marie died in an car accident in 1986, when O'Connor was nineteen. Unruly students there were sometimes sent to sleep in the adjoining nursing home, an experience of which she later commented, "I have never-and probably will never-experience such panic and terror and agony over anything." In some ways, she thrived there, especially in the development of her writing and music, but she also chafed under the imposed conformity. At the age of 15, her shoplifting and truancy led to her being placed for eighteen months in a Magdalene asylum, the Grianán Training Centre run by the Order of Our Lady of Charity. In 1979 O'Connor left her mother and went to live with her father and his new wife. Her parents are Sean O'Connor, a structural engineer later turned barrister and chairperson of the Divorce Action Group, and Marie O'Connor. She is the third of five children her siblings are novelist Joseph, Eimear, John, and Eoin. She was named Sinéad after Sinéad de Valera, the wife of Irish President Éamon de Valera, Marie after the mother of the doctor presiding over the delivery, and Bernadette in honour of Saint Bernadette of Lourdes. O'Connor was born in Glenageary, County Dublin on 8 December 1966. However, she continues to record and perform under her birth name. After converting to Islam in 2018, she changed it to Shuhada' Sadaqat ( Arabic: شهداء صدقات). In 2017, O'Connor changed her name to Magda Davitt. These include her ordination as a priest, despite being a woman with a Roman Catholic background, and expressing strong views on organised religion, women's rights, war, and child abuse. While maintaining her singing career since then she has occasionally encountered controversy, partly due to her statements and gestures. Her 2021's memoir Rememberings was a best seller. Her work also includes songs for films, collaborations with many other artists, and appearances at charity fundraising concerts. She has released ten studio albums: 1992's Am I Not Your Girl? and 1994's Universal Mother both went gold in the UK, 2000's Faith and Courage received gold status in the US, and 2005's Throw Down Your Arms went gold in Ireland. Its lead single, " Nothing Compares 2 U" (written by Prince), was named the number one world single in 1990 by the Billboard Music Awards. Her second album, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got received glowing reviews upon release and became her biggest success, selling over seven million copies worldwide. Her debut album, The Lion and the Cobra, was released in 1987 and charted internationally. Shuhada Sadaqat (born Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor on 8 December 1966 ) is an Irish singer-songwriter.