They benefited from arriving at precisely the right time: at the dawn of the ’90s, when the music industry figured out how to capitalize on all possible revenue streams. The Cranberries may not have been active during the bulk of the 2000s, but curiously, the band never was really absent. After its release, the group decided to take a hiatus. and UK by 2001’s Wake Up and Smell the Coffee, they were only going gold stateside and silver across the pond. During their mid-’90s heyday, the Cranberries were guaranteed multiple platinum certifications in both the U.S. By the dawn of the millennium, mainstream audiences were no longer paying attention to the band’s new music. The Cranberries racked up additional hits on both sides of the Atlantic until the close of the ’90s, but with diminishing returns: The new singles would hover in the middle of the charts before drifting away, dragging their accompanying albums with them. Sure, isn't that what life's all about?" she said.Such complexities were evident on the group’s trio of alternative rock classics: “Linger,” “Dreams,” and “Zombie,” all reaching their peak chart positions in 1994. O'Riordan said depression "is one of the worst things to go through," but that "I've also had a lot of joy in my life, especially with my children." She told London's Metro newspaper last year that she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and she spoke to the Irish News about her battles with depression. After her court hearing O'Riordan urged other people suffering mental illness to seek help. Medical records given to the court indicated she was mentally ill at the time of the altercation. She pleaded guilty and was fined 6,000 euros ($6,600.) In 2014, O'Riordan was accused of assaulting three police officers and a flight attendant during a flight from New York to Ireland. The tour was cut short because O'Riordan was suffering from back problems.
The Cranberries released the acoustic album "Something Else" in 2017 and had been due to tour Europe and North America. The Cranberries also reunited that year, resulting in the album "Roses" in 2012.įor a time, O'Riordan was one of Ireland's richest women, but she struggled with both physical and mental health problems. O'Riordan released a solo album, "Are You Listening," in 2007, and another, "No Baggage," in 2009. The band released three more studio albums before splitting up in 2003. As the female lead singer of a hugely successful rock band, she blazed a trail and might just have been Limerick's greatest ever rock star.
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar tweeted Monday that "for anyone who grew up in Ireland in the 1990s, Dolores O'Riordan was the voice of a generation. The follow-up, "No Need to Argue," sold in even greater numbers and contained "Zombie," a visceral howl against Northern Ireland's violent Troubles that topped singles charts in several countries. The Cranberries' 1993 debut album, "Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?", sold millions of copies and produced the hit single "Linger." Heavy play on MTV for their debut single "Dream" and the singles that followed helped bring the group to the attention of a mass audience. And in O'Riordan the group had a charismatic lead singer with a distinctively powerful voice. The band's songs - on which O'Riordan was chief lyricist and co-songwriter - had a Celtic-infused tunefulness. Their guitar-based sound had an alternative-rock edge at a time when grunge was storming the music scene. In 1990, she answered an ad from a local band in nearby Limerick city - then called The Cranberry Saw Us - that was looking for a lead singer.Ī name change and a confluence of factors turned The Cranberries into international stars. 6, 1971 in Ballybricken, southwest Ireland. Higgins said O'Riordan and The Cranberries "had an immense influence on rock and pop music in Ireland and internationally." The Hilton hotel in London's Park Lane confirmed that a guest had died on the premises. The police force said the death was being treated as "unexplained." Monday to a hotel where a woman in her 40s was found dead. London's Metropolitan Police force said officers were called just after 9 a.m.