Sinead O’Connor: Career in pictures

Sinead O’Connor performs at an outdoor plaza at 59th Street and Fifth Avenue in New York for a taping of CBS’ “The Early Show” on June 12, 2000.

Sinead O’Connor performs on “Che Tempo che Fa” in Milan, Italy, on Oct. 5, 2014.

Sinead O’Connor receives flowers from the audience during a performance at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles on Feb. 20, 2012.

Sinead O’Connor performs at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles on Feb. 20, 2012.

Sinead O’Connor performs at the Linda McCartney tribute at London’s Royal Albert Hall on April 10, 1999.

Sinead O’Connor’s most memorable pop culture moment came in 1992 when she ripped up a picture of Pope John Paul II during a live appearance in New York on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” after performing a cover version of Bob Marley’s “War.”  (File photo / Associated Press)

Sinead O’Connor has released nine albums during her career, beginning with 1987’s “The Lion and the Cobra” on Ensign / Chrysalis Records. The album sold 2,500,000 copies worldwide.  (Richard Drew / Associated Press)

Despite a six-year gap between albums, Sinead O’Connor continued to make music and tour sporadically. In 1998 O’Connor performed a stand-out set at Lilith Fair at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.  (Lori Shepler / Los Angeles Times)

In 1999, Sinead O’Connor, who famously tore up a picture of Pope John Paul II on “Saturday Night Live,” became an ordained priest of the Latin Tridentine Church, a conservative Christian sect not officially recognized by the Catholic Church.  (Jim Cooper / Associated Press)