Sinéad O’Connor asked that her fee for working with the band Aslan be donated to a homeless charity, Billy McGuinness has revealed. 

The Aslan Guitarist first met Sinéad in 2001 and said he would always remember her for her “kindness” towards other people.

“We were in Westland Studios - which is just off Pearse Street in Dublin - and we were recording an album called Waiting For This Madness To End,” he told The Hard Shoulder. 

“We had a song and we wanted Christy to do a duet with someone and the suggestion was Sinéad O’Connor.

“We thought she was going to turn it down… Lo and behold, she said, ‘Yeah’ and we told her what day to come in.”

Sinéad arrived, asked for some instructions, gave a brilliant performance and asked them, “Are you happy with that?”

Instead of leaving, she then hung around and asked them if there was anything else she could do for them.

“We said, ‘We have this bit of a pop song called She’s So Beautiful - do you want to do something like that?’

“She said, ‘I’d love to!’

“So, we got two songs out of her.”

At the end they asked Sinéad how they could pay her and she said she did not want any money.

“She went, ‘Do you know what you can do? I’d love you to give [something] to a homeless charity anonymously.’

“That was it, it was just fantastic.

“It was her always thinking of the underdog.”

The last time Mr McGuinness saw her was at a charity event a few years ago in which she and Aslan were both performing.

“Herself and Christy went off to a room and they were laughing and joking and having the craic,” he said.

“It’s hard to believe seven weeks ago we lost Christy and then yesterday we’re after losing Sinéad.

“I’ll just remember her kindness for the underdog. She really cared about people.”

Sinéad O’Connor passed away in London on Wednesday.

Main image: Sinéad O'Connor. Picture by: Alamy.com