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The death of iconic Irish singer-songwriter Sinéad O'Connor at 56 has conjured up a familiar image for many fans.
The singer, hair shaved close to her skull, ethereally pale with piercing grey eyes staring straight into the camera.
It's the key frame from O'Connor's most famous and long-lasting song, Nothing Compares 2 U.
Released at the very start of the 1990s, the song reached number one in more than a dozen different countries, including Australia.
But, despite being O'Connor's most recognisable song it passed through two artists before it got to her.
Keep it in The Family
Nothing Compares 2 U's life started five years before O'Connor took it global.
Originally written by Prince, the legendary musician gave the tune to The Family, a band that Prince had assembled and signed to his Paisley Park Records label.
The Family released it on their debut 1985 self-titled album — the only album they ever released under The Family name.
The original recording is very much influenced by the sounds of the 80s — synthesised strings threaten to drown lead vocalist St Paul.
The song was not released as a single and received very little recognition.
A world-wide explosion
O'Connor was already a global name in 1990 thanks to her 1987 debut album The Lion and The Cobra.
Her 1990 sophomore effort I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got led with a stripped bare, ballad cover of Nothing Compares 2 U as its first single.
The song catapulted the album to massive success, garnering four Grammy nominations and one win for O'Connor's performance of Nothing Compares 2 U.
Of course, O'Connor — a fierce political activist — declined the award, decrying the Grammys as a commercial exercise not conducive to art.
By the end of 1990, the song had sold more than 3.5 million copies and Billboard had crowned it number one World Single for the year.
THAT music video
Nothing Compares 2 U's success was supported heavily by one of the most recognisable music videos of the 1990s.
In it, O'Connor, clad in a black turtleneck looks pained and mournful down the barrel of the camera in an extreme close-up.
As she sings, a single tear falls icily down her pale check.
The raw emotion that O'Connor channelled for the music video came from an acting method called Bel Canto which calls for performers to use traumatic memories to create emotion.
“It’s always the same thing and it always works ... I always think of my mother … which is why I had the little tear in the video. My mother died when I was 17 and it wasn’t long after that that I was making the video," O'Connor told BBC Radio 6.
In a time where the concept of music videos accompanying songs was still novel, O'Connor picked up three MTV Video Music Awards at the 1990 event, including one for Best Music Video.
Prince's reclamation
Following the success of O'Connor's cover, Prince released his own version of Nothing Compares 2 U in 1993 with The Family's Rosie Gaines on backing vocals.
But it wasn't until after the legendary musician's death in 2016 that his original more traditional rock version started to parallel O'Connor's.
In 2018, fans were finally treated to the definitive Prince version of Nothing Compares 2 U when his estate released the original 1984 demo recording.
The music video features unseen footage of Prince & The Revolution from the summer of 1984 recording the song at Flying Cloud Drive Warehouse in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.
A generational impact
Just days before the 1984 Prince demo was released, a 13-year-old Toni Cornell shared a cover of Nothing Compares 2 U featuring her father Chris Cornell.
The elder Cornell, who fronted the 90s rock band Soundgarden, had passed away just one year earlier and was an avid fan of Prince.
“I miss your love everyday," Toni Cornell said at the time.
"Recording this song with you was a special and amazing experience I wish I could repeat 100 times over and I know you would too. Happy Father's Day daddy, nothing compares to you.”
Sinéad 'didn't deserve' song
Last year, O'Connor released a documentary about her life, her political efforts and her experience as a trailblazing feminist icon.
It was called Nothing Compares, but when O'Connor's most famous tune is shown on screen all that is heard is silence.
This is because Prince's estate didn't allow her the rights to use her own recording of Nothing Compares 2 U in the documentary.
Prince's half-sister Sharon Nelson outlined the reasons for the rejection in a statement to Billboard last year.
"Nothing compares to Prince's live version with Rosie Gaines that is featured on the Hits 1album and we are re-releasing that album on vinyl on November 4th," Nelson said.
"I didn’t feel [Sinéad] deserved to use the song my brother wrote in her documentary so we declined. His version is the best."
Nothing Compares went on to win two British Independent Film Awards and was universally acclaimed by critics.