The life and tragic death of Dolores O'Riordan, iconic voice of The Cranberries

A painful loss

On 15 January 2018, Dolores O'Riordan was found dead in a London hotel bathtub. It was a sad loss to the world of music.

'Zombie'

On a musical level, the singer became famous thanks to The Cranberries and, especially, their big hit: ‘Zombie’. This was the song that launched the group to fame in 1994.

'Zombie' marked half of her life

As fate would later decide, the release of ‘Zombie’ marked half of Dolores O'Riordan's pre-fame life, at the age of 23, and the other half, in which she was world famous, also lasted 23 years. The singer was 46 when she died.

A tragic life on many levels

Unfortunately for her, in both halves, Dolores O'Riordan had to deal with a multitude of problems. She lived a tragic life that led to an even more tragic death, and she was a remarkably talented artist.

Early rise to fame

Born in Ireland in 1971, Dolores O'Riordan joined the Cranberries in 1990, replacing Niall Quinn. Four years later, a song written by the vocalist brought them global fame.

A song of commitment

The song denounced the conflict in Northern Ireland and the armed clashes between Catholics and Protestants, pointing to an IRA attack. During the attack, Jonathan Ball and Tim Parry, two boys aged 3 and 12 respectively, were killed.

'Linger'

A year earlier, the band had already become known in the United States thanks to ‘Linger’, the song in which Dolores O'Riordan told the story of her first kiss and the feeling she had when the boy who gave it to her started fooling around with a friend of hers.

They swept North America

The band's fame skyrocketed in the United States and Canada, where their videos were looped on MTV, while their concerts filled stadiums with tens of thousands of people.

Not as big in the UK

However, in the UK they were not considered a band on a par with others such as ‘Oasis’ or ‘Blur’, who were the big stars of the 90s.

Two solo albums

In the 2000s, the artist released two solo albums, ‘Are You Listening?’ (2007) and ‘No Baggage’ (2009), which got somewhere, but never reached the levels of ‘The Cranberries’. Neither artistically nor commercially.

A complicated childhood

In spite of everything, Dolores O'Riordan's musical career was more than respectable, with a timeless anthem like ‘Zombie’ and recognition from the industry and public. Her personal life however was quite another matter, at times a living hell.

She was abused as a child

She herself told the Belfast Telegraph in 2013 that she had been physically abused by a family friend for four years when she was just a child.

‘You think it's your fault. You bury it.’

"That's what happens. You think it is your own fault. I buried it. It is what you do initially. You bury it because you are ashamed of it. You think: 'Oh my God. How horrible and disgusting I am,'" she told the media outlet.

Anorexia, depression, excesses...

With fame also came two of her other permanent demons. ‘I knew why I hated myself. I knew why I loathed myself. I knew why I wanted to make myself disappear,’ the singer added, before confessing that she did indeed try to take her own life in 2013.

Tried to take her own life

"I tried to overdose last year. I suppose I am meant to stay here for the kids," she added. At the time, the singer had been married since 1994 to Don Burton, the former manager of ‘Duran, Duran’.

Mother of 3 children

Shortly after the interview, in 2014, the couple divorced after 20 years of marriage and three children together: Taylor, Molly and Dakota. Obviously, this family setback did not sit too well with the ghosts of Dolores O'Riordan, who also admitted to having problems with alcohol consumption.

Fateful 2018

Four years later, the singer lost her life to alcohol poisoning. She was found in the bathtub of a London hotel, in her clothes, with no evidence of having consumed illegal substances other than alcohol. A lot of alcohol.

Alc0h0l poisoning

After more than eight months, the inquest at Westminster Coroner's Court, London, was released, stating that the singer showed 330mg of alc0h0l per 100ml of blood, after ingesting a bottle of sparkling w1ne and five mini-bottles of spirits.