Screaming Orphans pay tribute to Sinéad O'Connor with cover of 'John I Love You' featuring John Reynolds

In a moving tribute to Sinéad O'Connor, to mark the first anniversary of her death, Donegal band Screaming Orphans have shared a cover of 'John I Love You', featuring production and drums by Sinéad's longtime collaborator John Reynolds.

Screaming Orphans – made up of sisters Angela, Joan, Gráinne and Marie Thérèse Diver – have built up a international reputation for their unique, boundary-pushing fusion of pop and folk music. In the '90s, they toured across Europe and North America with Sinéad, as her backing vocalists and opening act.

In a tribute to Sinéad, shared online shortly after her death in July 2023, the band recalled how touring with the Irish music icon "opened up a whole new world" for them.

"She lifted us onto world stages, she let us dress and dance and act however we wanted," they wrote. "As we look back at all the videos we have together, we are reinforced again and again with just how wonderful and giving she was.

"We had the worst dress sense and our dancing was just terrible but Sinead wanted us to be free and express ourselves however we wanted and she put us and our awful style and moves right up the front of the stage with her. We learnt the valuable lesson, let nobody force you to be somebody you are not. She fought for the vulnerable. She made us brave."

'John I Love You' was among the many highlights of Sinéad's 1994 album, Universal Mother.

"We loved singing this song with Sinéad O'Connor at her live shows," Screaming Orphans have stated today, "and when recording this song, we wanted to keep this version true to the way in which we performed it live with Sinéad."

Listen to Screaming Orphans' cover of 'John I Love You', featuring John Reynolds, below:

In the days that followed Sinéad's death – as tributes poured in from every corner of the music community and beyond – Hot Press editor Niall Stokes shared his own personal reflections on Sinead’s unique artistic, social and political impact. To mark her anniversary, we’re revisiting that special piece today – available to read in full here.