Los Angeles Times February 23, 1992, Sunday, Home Edition SINEAD O'CONNOR SINGS A SONG OF SERENITY By Robert Hilburn Here's one name we probably won't be hearing during Tuesday's Grammy Awards ceremony: Sinead O'Connor. Though the controversial Irish singer's vocals on Cole Porter's "You Do Something to Me" and Elton John-Bernie Taupin's "Sacrifice" on separate tribute albums were among last year's most affecting performances, she wasn't nominated in either the best pop or rock vocal categories. But that was no surprise given the slings and arrows O'Connor shot when she withdrew from last year's Grammy ceremony -- despite nominations in four categories -- to underscore what she feels are "false and destructive materialistic values" in the music industry. In fact, O'Connor has maintained such a low profile since the Grammy outburst that many in the record industry probably thought (or, in some cases, hoped) that she had turned her back on a music career. In an interview last fall with Spin magazine, O'Connor -- whose songwriting on her acclaimed "I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got" album was reminiscent of the painfully intense and personal approach of John Lennon's early solo albums -- said she had no plans to make another album any time soon. "I have nothing left to say musically at the moment." But that's changed. O'Connor plans to enter a London studio in the coming weeks to record an album that she hopes will be in the stores by late summer. How she did come up so quickly with a new batch of songs? She's borrowing 'em. "It never occurred to me that I could make a record without writing the material, and that's what I knew was going to take a long time . . . finding something to say in some new songs," she said last weekend in her London home. "But I have been spending a lot of time listening to records by people I liked . . . mostly old records, and that's what made me realize that I am a singer as much as a writer -- in fact more of a singer. "Singing was the only reason I got into this business in the first place. Writing was just out of necessity. I had to get those feelings out of my system." Because O'Connor has limited time available before starring in a film about Joan of Arc, she hopes to record the album in just one week. "I want to be just like those singers who used to come in, do their vocals and then leave," she said. "I'll choose the material, but then I'll have a producer get everything else ready for me." SINEAD II: The first thing you notice about O'Connor, 25, as she opens the door of her modest home near London's Hyde Park is that her hair is growing out. "No," she says quickly and with a smile when asked if she has finally decided to abandon the shaved-head look that was the frequent butt of jokes. "I'm just growing it for the film. I don't know what I'll do after that. I may shave it again or just leave it long. I never meant it to be a statement or (career move). I was just bored one day and cut it off." While her 3-year-old son, Jake, watched a video of "Home Alone," O'Connor seemed far calmer than during an interview a year ago in Los Angeles, where she lived for a few months following her nine-month world tour. Explaining her move to London early last year and her low media profile since, she said: "I felt I needed to spend a long time getting back to some kind of normality and finding myself again after being the 'Nothing Compares 2 U' girl, because I really did lose all sorts of identity or self during that time. I do feel comfortable again, but it has taken this long." Does she have any regrets about the controversial series of events -- from the Grammy withdrawal to her refusal to allow the national anthem to be played before one of her concerts in New Jersey? "No, the only thing I might not do again was the Andrew Dice Clay thing," she says, referring to her canceling an appearance on "Saturday Night Live" rather than appear with the raunchy comedian, who was hosting the show. "I'm not sure I needed to make such a big deal of it. But as far as everything else . . . I stand behind it all . . . absolutely." Robert Hilburn