Dolores O'Riordan

Dolores O'Riordan
O'Riordan with The Cranberries, 13 March 2010
Background information
Birth name	Dolores Mary Eileen O'Riordan
Born	(1971-09-06) September 6, 1971 Limerick, Ireland
Died
Genres	Alternative rock, post-grunge, Celtic rock
Occupation(s)	Musician, singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, keyboards, bass
Years active	1990–2018
Labels	Sanctuary, Cooking Vinyl
Associated acts	The Cranberries, Jetlag
Website	Doloresoriordan.com

Dolores Mary Eileen O'Riordan /oʊˈrɪərdən/ (September 6, 1971 - January 15, 2018) was an Irish musician, singer, songwriter and guitarist. She led the rock band The Cranberries to worldwide success for thirteen 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 is notable for her lilting mezzo-soprano voice, and strong Limerick accent. She has been appearing as a judge on RTÉ's The Voice of Ireland since Autumn 2013. In April 2014 O'Riordan joined Jetlag and began recording new material.

On January 15, 2018, Dolores O'Riordan suddenly died. No cause of death was immediately given.

Early life

Dolores O'Riordan was born and brought up in the Ballybricken area of County Limerick, Ireland. She was born to parents Terence and Eileen O'Riordan and is the youngest of seven children. She attended Laurel Hill Coláiste FCJ in South Circular Road, Limerick.

Career

The Cranberries

Main article: 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 '90s, O'Riordan was recognised for her changing hairstyles, from shoulder-length to very short crop in myriad colours and shades. She sometimes performs 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 Olympics opening ceremony at Thomond Park in Limerick. This was the first time the band had performed in their native city in over fifteen years.

Solo career

It was rumoured that in 2003 O'Riordan was to feature on the soundtrack to Spider-Man 2 with the song "Black Widow", which is featured on her first solo album Are You Listening?. However, she dismissed this as an unfounded Internet rumour during an interview in 2007. In 2004 O'Riordan 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.

O'Riordan promoting her debut solo album Are You Listening? in 2007.

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 The Late Late Show (Irish television) 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.

On 19 November 2007, she cancelled the remainder of her European Tour (Lille, Paris, Luxembourg, Warsaw and Prague) due to illness. O'Riordan went on to perform a few small American club gigs in December, including Des Moines, Nashville, and a well-received free show in Charlottesville, Virginia. On the last day of 2008, it was announced on her official website that her second album, No Baggage, featuring eleven tracks, would be released on 24 August 2009.

In 2008 Dolores 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.

Jetlag

O'Riordan began recording new material with Jetlag in April 2014.

Personal life

On 18 July 1994, O'Riordan married Don Burton, the former tour manager of Duran Duran. Their first child, Taylor Baxter, was born on 23 November 1997. Molly Leigh was born on 27 January 2001, and Dakota Rain on 10 April 2005. O'Riordan and Burton split up in 2014 after twenty years together.

In 1998, she bought a 61 hectares (150 acres) stud farm, called Riversfield Stud, located in Kilmallock, County Limerick. She lived there for six years before selling it in 2004.

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

O'Riordan lived in Howth, County Dublin with her husband and their three children. The family once divided their time between homes in Dublin and a log cabin located in Buckhorn, Ontario, Canada that was bought in 1994. In 2009, her family moved full-time to their home in Buckhorn. The same year, The Cranberries met together again at the christening of her son Taylor. In August 2013, O'Riordan returned to live in Ireland.

Dolores was raised as a Roman Catholic. Her mother was a devout Catholic who chose her name in reference to the Lady of the Seven Dolours. She admires 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." She has also been invited by Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican's annual Christmas concerts, and has performed there several times, in 2001, 2002 and 2005.

On 10 November 2014, O'Riordan was arrested and charged in connection with an assault on an Aer Lingus flight 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.

Death

On January 15, 2018, O'Riordan suddenly passed away while recording in London.

Discography

Solo albums

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

The Cranberries

See also: The Cranberries discography

• 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)
• Wake Up and Smell the Coffee (2001)
• Roses (2012)

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)

External links

• Dolores O'Riordan at the Internet Movie Database