Sinéad’s former housekeeper to write about ‘kind, humble woman who saved my life’
O’CONNOR’S former housekeeper is searching for a publisher to print her book of memories of the singer.
And according to Kala Jackson Craft, her unique behind-closeddoors recollections will give unknown insights about the iconic singer’s real off-stage life.
Kala told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘I self-published a book several years ago, and now I am working on a new chapter about Sinéad. It will be the most important chapter in the book.
‘A lot of people have claimed her, but there is a lot more to tell. People know she was a great singer and that she was a great songwriter; that was a huge side of her. But I always called Sinéad my “earth angel with the shaved head and the damaged wing”.
‘Since she died I have been rereading letters she wrote to me. She encouraged me to “stop hiding your light under a bushel”. That’s why I am working on this chapter now,’ she said.
Kala was homeless when she first met Sinéad. She said: ‘I needed a roof over my head, and she needed a home’.
And while providing shelter for Kala, the singer quickly picked up a few domestic tricks from her new housekeeper.
‘She wasn’t domesticated and she learned how to cook by staying with me in the kitchen as I was making lunch or dinner,’ she recalled.
‘She became a domestic goddess, and I just think that this is a side of her I’d really like to share with people,’ said Kala.
Sinéad O’Connor died eight months ago shortly after moving to London to record a new album.
She was found unresponsive at her home, and two months ago the local coroner at Southwark ruled that the 56-year-old had died of natural causes.
Speaking at the time of her death, Sinéad’s former housekeeper described in moving detail how the musician had saved her life.
Recalling how their paths crossed in the early 2000s, Kala told the MoS: ‘I was raped by a well-known businessman and then attacked by his son, and when Sinéad read about it in the newspaper she tracked me down.
‘I was very, very, traumatised. I was a broken human being, and nobody was willing to help me or believe what had happened to me as soon as they heard the name of the person who did it.
‘Sinéad believed me when no one else would, and she saw that I was an honest person,’ she said.
‘If she had not tracked me down, I probably would have died or walked into the sea.’
The two women shared Sinéad’s then home in Dublin, close to St Patrick’s Cathedral.
During her year working as the singer’s housekeeper, former restaurateur Kala became part of the star’s inner circle, sometimes fielding phone calls from rich and famous people trying to get in contact with the singer.
Kala was at the table when Sinéad entertained her first ever official dinner guest with a wholeSINÉAD some home-cooked meal of bacon, cabbage, potatoes and carrots. She was also there when the late Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan dropped in for visits.
According to Kala, behind Sinéad’s celebrity persona and lifestyle was a humble, kind woman who was more than willing to give a listening ear to those less fortunate than herself.
She said: ‘We used to sing along with Otis Redding and Bob Marley as I was doing the housework and as Sinéad was doing her painting.
‘Sinéad was intelligent. She was humble. She would lie on a blanket with her daughter and her dog in the local park at St Patrick’s Cathedral. ‘All the kids would be there with their mams, and they all knew who she was but no one bothered her.
‘Not everybody as well-known as she was could have done that. To her, to be able to do that was priceless. It says a lot about Dublin that she could do that.’
Kala said the singer always ‘took the time to listen to people and she took the time to respond to people. I just want to raise awareness of her kindness.
‘She was able to hold onto that even though she was abused herself,’ Kala added.
Last week, several musicians and singers – including Sinéad’s only daughter Róisín – performed at New York’s Carnegie Hall to honour both Sinéad and her late pal Shane MacGowan.
The former Pogues front man died last November at the age of 65, four months after Sinéad.
As a result of the musical tribute, almost €65,000 was raised for the PEN international charity which helps writers fleeing from persecution.
Meanwhile, ahead of the first anniversary of Sinéad’s death this summer, her former housekeeper and a local councillor in her adopted home town of Bray believe it is time to consider honouring the Dublin-born singer.
Kala said: ‘Phil [Lynott of Thin Lizzy] has his statue, Luke [Kelly of The Dubliners] has his statue in the East Wall, and given the icon that Sinéad was and the love she had for her city and people, Sinéad deserves recognition in her own town.’
Bray-based Green Party councillor Erika Doyle added: ‘I’d like to think, as we come up to her anniversary, that we might be able to open that discussion. We would be totally guided by her family.’
‘This is a side of her I’d really like to share’
‘Sinéad was intelligent. She was humble’