A Limerick-born former obstetrician who traded her medical career for music has released a debut album paying tribute to two of Ireland’s most beloved singers, Sinéad O’Connor and Dolores O’Riordan.
Helen O’Shea, now based in New Jersey, has released Songs in the Key of O, a sweeping homage to both icons, produced by two-time Grammy Award-winning producer Marc Swersky, whose credits include Joe Cocker and Natalie Cole.
The album features an impressive roster of collaborators, among them Liam O’Maonlaà of Hothouse Flowers, Barry Murphy of Hermitage Green, Rob Clores of The Black Crowes, Aaron Comess and Jack Daley of the Spin Doctors, and Michelle Moore of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Choir.
O’Shea, who trained at University College Galway and later served as an assistant professor at McGill University in Montreal, spent years as a leading obstetrician and gynaecologist before stepping away from medicine at her children’s request in 2011. It was her husband who encouraged her to pursue the singing she had long set aside.
Her connection to the album’s subjects runs deep. O’Riordan, also a Limerick native, first captured O’Shea’s attention through a mixtape her brother made her as a student, featuring The Cranberries’ Linger. Of O’Connor, she recalls watching her debut on the Late Late Show — buzzcut, white T-shirt — as a defining moment of Irish womanhood.
“Sinéad helped to redefine what it meant to be a woman in Ireland. Strong, bold, fearless and passionate,” O’Shea said. “Dolores brought so much beauty to the hometown she shared with me, and the world lost her way too soon.”
Since moving into music, O’Shea has won Best Americana Song at the Global Music Awards for Sturdy Soul and received nominations at the 2024 Josie Awards and the International Singer-Songwriter Awards.