Annie Lennox pays deeply moving tribute to Sinéad O’Connor at 2024 Grammys
Both Lennox and O’Connor are revered for their commitment to political activism. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy and Andrew Chin/Getty Images)
There was hardly a dry eye in the house at Sunday’s (4 February) Grammy Awards, as Annie Lennox performed an emotional tribute to the late Sinéad O’Connor.
In the In Memoriam Grammys segment, Lennox sang a moving rendition of O’Connor’s 1990 hit ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’. The pioneering Irish singer passed away in 2023.
It was part of a star-studded tribute that honoured members of the music industry who passed away in the last year. Tina Turner was remembered with a spirited cover of “Proud Mary” and while Stevie Wonder did a posthumous duet with Tony Bennett.
As she finished the song, Lennox raised her fist and proclaimed: “Artists for a ceasefire – peace in the world.”
Her sentiment is referencing the call for a Gaza ceasefire.
Is Annie Lennox a lesbian?
Lennox isn’t a lesbian, but the 69-year-old Scottish singer-songwriter and political activist has often been assumed to be gay.
Her androgynous appearance in the ‘80s led to many speculating about her sexuality.
In 2017, speaking to Metro, Lennox commented that she’s always been “provocative” and wanted to spark people’s thoughts about gender issues.
“But it was actually tough being called a “gender bender” because the press often used the term like an undermining insult,” she also added.
The ‘Walking on Broken Glass’ singer added that her “orientation of my sexuality was constantly up for grabs.”
Previously, in 2014, Lennox said that she found wrong assumptions about her sexuality as “weird”.
“It was weird because I’m not and never have been,” she said at the time.
“I thought, ‘Oh that’s really strange. Is that how people see me? Does that mean I’m not attractive to men?’ I think intelligent heterosexual women are challenging for heterosexual men.”
Interestingly, even in 2024 people are still Googling the phrase: “Is Annie Lennox a lesbian?” meaning that the untrue rumour has persisted over many years.
Who is Sinéad O’Connor?
The ‘Drink Before the War’ singer was an LGBTQ+ icon. She passed in 2023 aged 56.
Throughout her life, O’Connor was a brazen and outspoken political activist campaigning around issues such as women’s rights, human rights, racism, and child abuse.
Most famously, O’Connor ripped up a photo of Pope John Paul II on Saturday Night Live in 1993, in protest against child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.
Kathryn Ferguson, director of Nothing Compares, a documentary about O’Connor shared that the singer will be remembered as an LGBTQ+ icon.
“I’ve seen archives of her at award ceremonies where she stood up and spoke very candidly about the Aids crisis, and why there needed to be awareness and why there shouldn’t be any stigma,” Ferguson shared with PinkNews.
“She kept showing up and she kept doing it,” Ferguson said. “People really felt that.”
You can read all of our 2024 Grammys coverage here.
