Prince’s estate stops Sinéad O’Connor documentary using her version of ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’

Sinéad O'Connor performing at Glastobury in 2001

Sinéad O'Connor performing at Glastobury in 2001

Prince performs in 2011

Sinéad O'Connor performing at Glastobury in 2001

Independent.ie Newsdesk Twitter Email

January 24 2022 11:03 AM

The estate of Prince has stopped the makers of a documentary about Sinéad O’Connor from using Nothing Compares 2 U, her most famous song.

Nothing Compares, a documentary about the life and career of the Irish singer, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in the US this weekend, but apart from a few chords, O’Connor’s career-defining version of the Prince song was missing.

Its absence was explained in the credits at the end of the film, which read: “The Prince estate denied use of Sinéad's recording of 'Nothing Compares 2 U' in this film.”

Prince’s obscure original first appeared on a 1985 album for his side project The Family, and was covered by O’Connor for her second album in 1990, I Do Not Want What I Have Not Got, catapulting her to global stardom.

Prince performs in 2011

Prince only regularly started performing the song live after it became a hit for the Irish singer-songwriter. She has recounted how he invited her to his mansion in LA where he behaved aggressively towards her, threw several tantrums and tried to stop her from leaving, before pursuing her in his car.

"I never wanted to see that devil again,” she wrote in her memoir, Rememberings.

Prince died in 2016 from an accidental overdose of the prescription drug fentanyl.

In the documentary by Kathryn Ferguson, O’Connor speaks about her life, from suffering physical and mental abuse from her mother, to the fallout of her tearing up a picture of the Pope in protest at clerical child abuse.

Its release comes just a few weeks after O’Connor’s son Shane, whose father is musician Donal Lunny, died by suicide.