Dolores Mary Eileen O'Riordan (/oʊˈrɪərdən/; 6 September 1971 – 15 January 2018) was an Irish musician and singer-songwriter.

She led the rock band The Cranberries for 13 years before the band took a break starting in 2003, reuniting in 2009.

Her first solo album, Are You Listening?, was released in May 2007 and was followed up by No Baggage in 2009. O'Riordan was known for her lilting mezzo-soprano voice, for yodeling and for her strong Limerick accent. She appeared as a judge on RTÉ's The Voice of Ireland during the 2013–14 season. In April 2014, O'Riordan joined Jetlag (later called D.A.R.K.) and began recording new material.

Early life

Dolores Mary Eileen O'Riordan was born and brought up in the Ballybricken area of County Limerick, Ireland. She was the daughter of Terence and Eileen O'Riordan and the youngest of seven children. She attended Laurel Hill Coláiste FCJ school in Limerick.

Career

The Cranberries

In 1990 O'Riordan auditioned and won the role of lead singer for a band called The Cranberry Saw Us (later changed to The Cranberries). The band released five albums: Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? (1993), No Need to Argue (1994), To the Faithful Departed (1996), Bury the Hatchet (1999) and Wake Up and Smell the Coffee (2001) and a greatest-hits compilation entitled Stars: The Best of 1992–2002(2002), before they went on hiatus in 2003.

Throughout the 1990s, O'Riordan was recognised for her changing hairstyles, from shoulder-length to very short crop in myriad colours and shades. She sometimes performed barefoot on stage.

On 25 August 2009, while promoting her solo album No Baggage in New York City on 101.9 RXP radio, O'Riordan announced the reunion of The Cranberries for a world tour. The tour began in North America in mid November, followed by South America in mid January 2010 and Europe in March 2010. Also touring with the original members of The Cranberries was musician Denny DeMarchi, who played the keyboard for O'Riordan's solo albums.

The band played songs from O'Riordan's solo albums, many of The Cranberries' classics, as well as new songs the band had been working on. On 9 June 2010 The Cranberries performed at the Special Olympicsopening ceremony at Thomond Park in Limerick. This was the first time the band had performed in their native city in over fifteen years.

On 26 May 2016, the band announced that they planned to start a tour in Europe. The first show was held on 3 June.

Solo career

In 2004, she appeared with the Italian artist Zucchero on the album Zu & Co., with the song "Pure Love". The album also featured other artists such as Sting, Sheryl Crow, Luciano Pavarotti, Miles Davis, John Lee Hooker, Macy Gray and Eric Clapton. The same year she worked with composer Angelo Badalamenti on the Evilenko soundtrack, providing vocals on several tracks, including "Angels Go to Heaven", the movie theme.

In 2005, she appeared on the Jam & Spoon's album Tripomatic Fairytales 3003 as a guest vocalist on the track "Mirror Lover". O'Riordan also made a cameo appearance in the Adam Sandler comedy Click, released on 23 June 2006, as a wedding singer performing an alternate version of The Cranberries' song "Linger", set to strings. The first single, "Ordinary Day", was produced by BRIT Awards winner, Youth, whose previous credits include The Verve, Embrace, Primal Scream, U2 and Paul McCartney. O'Riordan made an appearance live on The Late Late Show on 20 April 2007.

Are You Listening? was released on 4 May 2007 in the Republic of Ireland. It was subsequently released in Europe on 7 May 2007, and in North America on 15 May 2007, with "Ordinary Day" as its first single, released in late April. The video for "Ordinary Day" was shot in Prague. In August "When We Were Young" was released as the second single lifted from the album.

In 2006, O'Riordan was listed among the ten richest women in Ireland.

On 19 November 2007, she cancelled the remainder of her European Tour (Lille, Paris, Luxembourg, Warsaw and Prague) due to illness. In December she performed in a few small American clubs, including Des Moines, Nashville, and a well-received free show in Charlottesville, Virginia. Her second album, No Baggage, featuring eleven tracks, was released in August 2009.

In 2008, O'Riordan won an EBBA Award. Every year the European Border Breakers Awards recognise the success of ten emerging artists or groups who reached audiences outside their own countries with their first internationally released album in the past year.

She appeared as a judge on RTÉ's The Voice of Ireland during the 2013–14 season.

D.A.R.K.

O'Riordan began recording new material with Jetlag in April 2014. At the origin a collaboration between Andy Rourke of The Smiths and Ole Koretsky, it then changed name to become D.A.R.K. Their first album, Science Agrees, was released in September 2016.

Personal life

On 18 July 1994, O'Riordan married Don Burton, the former tour manager of Duran Duran. The couple had three children. In 1998, the couple bought a 61-hectare (150-acre) stud farm, called Riversfield Stud, located in Kilmallock, County Limerick, selling it six years later in 2004. They then moved to Howth, County Dublin, and spent summers in a log cabin located in Buckhorn, Ontario, Canada. In 2009, the family moved full-time to their home in Buckhorn.

In August 2013, she returned to live in Ireland. She and Burton split up in 2014 after 20 years together, and subsequently divorced.

She was raised as a Roman Catholic. Her mother was a devout Catholic who chose her daughter's name in reference to the Lady of the Seven Dolours. Dolores admired the late Pope John Paul II. After meeting him inside Vatican City, O'Riordan remarked: "[He] was lovely, very saintly. I was mad about him. I thought he really cared for the poor and he loved to meet the people. I saw him when he came to Limerick, when I was a kid. So it was pretty mindblowing to take my mum out to meet him." At the invitation of Pope Benedict XVIshe performed at the Vatican's annual Christmas concerts in 2001 and 2002. She performed at the invitation of Pope Francis in 2013 as well.

On 10 November 2014, O'Riordan was arrested and charged in connection with an assault on an Aer Lingusflight from New York to Shannon. An air hostess and a policeman were assaulted and O'Riordan was held in custody following a visit to hospital herself.

In May 2017, she told an interviewer that she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder two years earlier and had struggled with the symptoms for years.

She was reported to have unspecified back problems, which caused the cancellation in May 2017 of the second part of The Cranberries' European tour. In late 2017 O'Riordan said she was recovering and performed at a private event.

Death

On 15 January 2018, at the age of 46, while in London, England, for a recording session, O'Riordan died unexpectedly. The cause of death, which occurred in a Westminster hotel, was not immediately made public.

Irish president Michael D. Higgins was one of the first to pay tribute. Other early tributes came in from across the music world, including Dave Davies (of The Kinks), Hozier and Kodaline.

Solo discography

Solo albums

• Are You Listening? (2007)
• No Baggage (2009)

Other appearances

• Moose "Soon Is Never Soon Enough" (1992; backing vocals)
• Touch of Oliver "Carousel" (1993; backing vocals)
• Jah Wobble "The Sun Does Rise" (1994; duet)
• "God Be With You" on The Devil's Own soundtrack (1997; solo track)
• "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll" (various artists benefit single for A Children's Promise, Rolling Stones cover, 1999; vocals)
• "Ave Maria" on Songs Inspired by The Passion of the Christ (2004; solo track)
• "Angels Go to Heaven" & "The Woodstrip/There's No Way Out" (composed by Angelo Badalamenti) on Evilenko soundtrack, 2004; vocals)
• Zucchero "Pure Love" (2004; duet)
• Jam & Spoon "Mirror Lover" (2005; vocals)
• Angelo Badalamenti "The Butterfly" (2006; vocals)
• Movie, Click, dir. by Frank Coraci starring Adam Sandler. "Linger," lounge version; appeared as the singer for the band during the son's wedding reception scene (2006)
• Giuliano Sangiorgi "Senza Fiato" (2007; duet)
• "Centipede Sisters" on Roll Play 2 digital soundtrack (2008)
• "Cryopian D" -(vocals and mixed) - from "Like a Puppet Show" vinyl only release by Sandro, John Malkovich, Eric Alexandrakis (2015)
• Appeared (with the Cranberries) in an episode of TV series "Charmed" (performing 'Just my Imagination')