R.I.P. The Cranberries’ Singer Dolores O’Riordan

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R.I.P. The Cranberries’ Singer Dolores O’Riordan

The 46-Year-Old Unexpectedly Died in London

Jan 15, 2018 Dolores O’Riordan By Christopher Roberts

Dolores O’Riordan, frontwoman for 1990s Irish alt-rock band The Cranberries, has unexpectedly died in London, as reports the BBC and the band. No cause of death has been given yet.

The Cranberries formed in 1989 (originally as The Cranberry Saw Us), with O’Riordan joining brothers Noel Hogan (guitar) and Mike Hogan (bass) and drummer Fergal Lawler a year later. It was a rough version of her song “Linger” that helped earn her a place in the band. A three-song demo featuring early versions of future hits “Linger” and “Dreams” earned them a record deal with Island after a label bidding war and Rough Trade head Geoff Travis as their new manager. Their 1993 debut album, Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?, which was produced by Stephen Street (The Smiths, Blur), wasn’t an instant hit. But a tour supporting Britpop mainstays Suede earned them further attention and soon MTV was playing the videos for “Linger” and “Dreams,” which led to the album eventually reaching #1 on the U.K. album charts and it selling over five million copies in America.

1994 sophomore album, No Need to Argue, was an even bigger success, selling seven million copies in America. It was also produced by Street and was fueled by political hit single “Zombie,” which O’Riordan wrote in response to a 1993 IRA bombing that killed two children.

They never quite matched the success of their first two albums, with their next album, 1996’s To the Faithful Departed, selling two million copies in the U.S. (still a lot of albums). 1999’s Bury the Hatchet and 2001’s Wake Up and Smell the Coffee also didn’t make as much of an impact as their earlier work and the band went on hiatus from 2004 to 2009, during which O’Riordan embarked on a solo career, releasing 2007’s Are You Listening? and 2009’s No Baggage. She also teamed up with Olé Koretsky and The Smiths’ Andy Rourke as D.A.R.K., who released one album, 2016’s Science Agrees.

The Cranberries reunited and released their six album, Roses, in 2012. In 2017 they released Something Else, an album of newly recorded acoustic and orchestral versions of their previous songs. Last May the band cancelled the remainder of their European tour dates due to O’Riordan’s health issues and then cancelled their North American dates last July for the same reason. O’Riordan was in London for a short recording session when she died. Below is a selection of The Cranberries’ songs and videos.