Prince’s estate denied Sinead O’Connor use of ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ for new documentary

nme.com:

Prince‘s estate denied Sinead O’Connor use of ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ for her new documentary, it has been revealed.Nothing Compares, a new film directed by Kathryn Ferguson, will chronicle O’Connor’s rise to fame in the early ‘90s.

In addition to input from people close to the singer, the documentary will include a new interview with O’Connor herself.A great part of this success came from her decision to cover ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ in 1990, with the song partially giving the film its title.However, the cover won’t appear in the film, with Prince’s half-sister and co-heir telling Billboard that the estate refused the request because “I didn’t feel she deserved to use the song.”Sharon Nelson added: “Nothing compares to Prince’s live version with Rosie Gaines that is featured on the ‘Hits 1‘ album and we are re-releasing that album on vinyl on November 4th.“I didn’t feel [Sinéad] deserved to use the song my brother wrote in her documentary so we declined.

His version is the best.”Director Ferguson then added: “Initially we had intended to use the song, but we received a refusal (which as the rights holders, was their prerogative).“In the end we were very happy with that section of the film.