Irish musician, singer and songwriter best known as the lead vocalist for the alternative rock band The Cranberries from 1990 until they took a six-year hiatus starting in 2003. O’Riordan’s first solo album, Are You Listening?, was released in May 2007 and was followed up by No Baggage in August 2009. The Cranberries later reunited in 2009, disbanding in 2019 following her death.
O’Riordan was known for her lilting mezzo-soprano voice, her emphasised use of keening, and her strong Limerick accent, heard on such Cranberries’ hits as “Linger” (1993) and “Zombie” (1994).
O’Riordan has been recognised as a style icon, sporting a pixie cut or buzzed hair in the 1990s and performing barefoot, saying “it just feels comfortable and honest to pull your toes along the ground.”
On 18 July 1994, O’Riordan married Canadian-born Don Burton, ten years Dolores’s senior, the former tour manager of Duran Duran.
In September 1995, O’Riordan performed “Ave Maria” along with Luciano Pavarotti. On 15 December 2001, O’Riordan performed solo in the Vatican as part of the annual Vatican Christmas Concert for Pope John Paul II, accompanied by a 67-piece orchestra. The show was broadcast to well over 200 million people around the world. She later performed at the Vatican Christmas Concerts on 13 December 2002 and 3 December 2005.
In 2008 she was sixth on the list of the ten richest artists in Ireland, her net worth was $66 million. She earned $5 million annually from her musical career.
In 2009, O’Riordan and her husband and three children moved full-time to Buckhorn, Ontario, Canada. In July 2013, O’Riordan, with her husband and children went to live in Ireland, in the exclusive area of ??Abington, in the north of Dublin. The family moved back to Canada in November 2013, considering they were used to the great outdoors and the wilderness.
In mid-December, O’Riordan returned in Ireland to appear as a judge on RTÉ’s The Voice of Ireland during the 2013–2014 season. In April 2014, O’Riordan joined and began recording new material with the trio D.A.R.K.
On 10 November 2014, O’Riordan was arrested and charged in connection with air rage on an Aer Lingus flight from JFK to Shannon airport. During the flight, she grew verbally and physically abusive to the crew. When police were arresting her, she resisted, reminding them that her taxes paid their wages and shouting “I’m the Queen of Limerick! I’m an icon!”, headbutting one Garda officer and spitting at another. She allegedly fractured the air hostess’ foot during the incident. The judge hearing her case agreed to dismiss all charges if she apologised in writing to her victims and contributed €6,000 to the court poor box.
Later O’Riordan told the media that she had been stressed from living in New York hotels following the end of her 20-year marriage in late 2014. The couple later divorced. Following her split from her husband, O’Riordan suffered from serious depression in 2014 and her mental health issues were compounded by alcohol use.
At the end of 2014, Dolores O’Riordan moved to Manhattan, New York, where she bought an apartment in East Village. She developed a relationship with Russian musician Olé Koretsky, with whom she shared the last years of her life. In 2017 she bought a new house, near her Irish hometown of Limerick.
In September 2017, O’Riordan began composing a suicide note while drinking heavily and taking Lorazepam. Her last public performance was on 14 December 2017 in New York City.
At 2 a.m. on 15 January 2018, O’Riordan had a phone call with her mother, then was found unresponsive later that morning at the London Hilton on Park Lane hotel in Mayfair and was pronounced dead at 9:16 a.m GMT. The cause of death was ruled by the Coroner as accidental drowning in a bathtub, following sedation by alcohol intoxication. She was 46.
Dolores O’Riordan was nominated for posthumous 2020 Grammy Awards. The Cranberries’ In The End received a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Album.

Link to Wikipedia biography