Cranberries Singer Dies

Cranberries singer Dolores O’Riordan died suddenly on Monday (January 15th) in a London hotel at the age of 46, according to the Associated Press. O’Riordan was in London for a short recording session and at press time the cause of her death was not immediately announced. O’Riordan’s publicist said in a statement, “Family members are devastated to hear the news and have requested privacy at this very difficult time.”

According to Variety, Metropolitan Police in London confirmed that “a woman in her mid-40s was pronounced dead at the scene,” adding, “At this early stage the death is being treated as unexplained.”

• O’Riordan, who was born in Limerick, Ireland, joined the Cranberries in 1990 after original vocalist Niall Quinn quit. The group signed with Island Records in 1992 and released its debut disc, Everyone Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? the following year.
• The LP reached Number One on the U.K. and Irish album charts, while climbing to Number 18 on the Billboard 200 chart in the U.S. The set spawned two hit singles in “Linger” and “Dreams.”
• The band released its sophomore album, No Need To Argue, in 1994 and topped the Alternative chart with the track “Zombie,” which became their biggest hit.
• O’Riordan told us a while back that the group’s success through the ’90s was due in part to its ability to ignore changing trends in rock: [“Never did give thought to what was out there and never will because my writing comes from inside my heart and I think my voice is quite unique. I have confidence in what God gave me in my gift, you know what I mean? You gotta be grateful and say, ‘Look, this is great,’ you know? Life’s too short to worry about what might be and what’s going on out there. I don’t feel any pressure, you know, I don’t get like, ‘Ooh, I have to sound like that,’ or ‘Ooh, I have to wear that dress.’”] SOUNDCUE (:23 OC:…wear that dress.)
• The group went on hiatus in 2003, but reunited in 2009 for a tour and eventually more recording. O’Riordan told us at the time how it felt to get back together: [“It was kind of weird at first. Like, ‘Ooh, I wonder what it will be like.’ It doesn’t feel like six years because we’ve been busy with children and life and running around all that stuff. But just time flies, right. So we all went into the room in Trinity but it felt like I saw you yesterday because we were together for so long. Thirteen years. All the time. Bands are stuck together continuously you know.”] SOUNDCUE (:21 OC: . . . continuously, you know.)
• The Cranberries released a total of seven studio albums, the last being 2017’s Something Else, and scored an additional five Top 20 singles on Modern Rock radio, including “Ode to My Family,” “Ridiculous Thoughts,” “Salvation,” “Free to Decide” and “Promises.” The quartet has sold more than 40 million records worldwide, including over 10 million in the U.S.
• O’Riordan released two solo albums, 2007’s Are You Listening? and 2009’s No Baggage. She also recently started a new band called D.A.R.K. that released its debut effort in 2016.
• O’Riordan had three children from her 20-year marriage to former Duran Duran tour manager Dan Burton, with whom she split in 2014. That same year she was arrested for an air rage incident on an Aer Lingus flight, in which a flight attendant was injured. She later apologized to the attendant and was ordered by a judge to donate the Euro equivalent of $7,300 to charity.