Tony Bennett and Sinead O’Connor

 (Spoiler alert:  This post is not directly related to bicycles or bicycling.  Read at your own risk!;-)

The way things are going, I might be called upon to sing.  And trust me, you don’t want to hear that!

Two months ago, Tina Turner passed away. Last week, we lost Tony Bennett.   And, a couple of days ago, Sinead O’Connor was found dead in her London apartment.

They were as different from each other, in their singing styles and what they sang, not to mention their personal styles, as any three singers could be.  I believe, however, that what they had in common are the hallmarks of singers who I could listen to all day.

Tony Bennett with Lena Horne, 1972

They had beautiful voices, of course. (So does Mariah Carey, but I find her boring, boring.) More important though, is this: They sang from the heart because, well, they couldn’t sing any other way—and I suspect they wouldn’t have wanted to. (Tony Bennett said as much.)

And, for each of them, “the heart” was a place of pain as well as joy—and passion.  Tina Turner’s struggles during her childhood and during and after her marriage to Ike. So is Sinead’s history of abuse from her mother and subsequent mental-health issues.  And while he didn’t express it directly, it’s hard not to think that some of his energy as an artist came from the loss and pain he experienced early in his life.

Sinead O’Connor

And, as different as their stage personae, if you will, were, they channeled their sexuality in different ways. Tony Bennett has been described as a “crooner,” which I have always interpreted as someone who looks and carries himself like a Hollywood leading man but seduces with his voice. Tina Turner, on the other hand, was not shy about her sex appeal but showed how that it could empower her (or anyone) against the kind of exploitation she experienced.  And, finally, Sinead O’Connor knew how beautiful she was enough to keep the notoriously-rapacious music and entertainment industries from defining her by it.

I will miss them all. But at least we have recordings of them. Oh, and their songs sometimes play in my head while I’m cycling.  That, for me is proof enough that they have been important in my life!