Biography
Dolores O'Riordan's vocals in the Cranberries made her an international star and a beloved figure in Irish music. She was the youngest of nine children, growing up in Ballybricken, County Limerick. Her Catholic upbringing led to her first musical experiences, playing organ in church. In 1990, when she was 18, she auditioned for a local band which was then called the Cranberry Saw Us, her audition song was "Linger" which she'd written about her first kiss. Thanks in part to that song, the band caught on fast, and got the attention of former Smiths manager Geoff Travis. With his help the band supported its first album, 1993's Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?, on a US tour with Suede. The Cranberries easily did better in America than the headliners; thanks in part to the striking onstage look of O'Riordan who was now sporting close-cropped hair and Doc Martens boots. "Linger" was released as the second Cranberries single after "Dreams" didn't catch on; it became their only Top Ten hit in America. The band continued its rise over the next three years, despite a short layoff caused by O'Riordan's 1994 skiing accident, which led to a metal rod being put in her leg. "Linger's" followup "Zombie," written in response to an IRA bombing, showed an angrier side of the band, 1996 brought their second Top 40 single "Free to Decide." The band went on hiatus in 2003, allowing O'Riordan to raise her three children (son Taylor and daughters Molly and Dakota) guest on albums by Zucchero and Jam & Spoon, and begin her solo career. Her two solo albums, 2007's Are You Listening? and 2009's No Baggage, both applied the melodic Cranberries style to heavier production and more diverse instrumentation. O'Riordan was named one of Ireland's richest women in 2006, and in 2013 she fulfilled a lifelong dream by performing before the Pope. In addition to reuniting with the Cranberries O'Riordan launched a new group, D.A.R.K., with Smiths bassist Andy Rourke. She and her husband, Duran Duran tour manager Don Burton, divorced in 2014. O'Riordan let it be known that her personal life was often troubled. During 2013 she went public as an abuse survivor, saying that the abuser was someone close to her family and that it had begun when she was eight. The following year she was arrested in an air-rage incident, on a flight from New York to Ireland; she later acknowledged that she had been diagnosed bipolar. Dolores O'Riordan died suddenly on January 15, 2018, as the Cranberries were in London making a new album.
