Dolores O'Riordan facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Dolores O'Riordan
O'Riordan performing in 2016
Background information
Birth name	Dolores Mary Eileen O'Riordan
Born	(1971-09-06)6 September 1971 Limerick, Ireland
Died	15 January 2018(2018-01-15) (aged 46) London, England, UK
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, D.A.R.K.

Dolores Mary Eileen O'Riordan ( 6 September 1971 – 15 January 2018) was an Irish musician and singer-songwriter. She led the rock band The Cranberries 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. She was known for yodeling and for her strong Limerick accent.

O'Riordan appeared as a judge on RTÉ's The Voice of Ireland during the 2013/14 season. In April 2014 O'Riordan joined Jetlag (now called D.A.R.K.) and began recording new material.

In May 2017, O'Riordan said that she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Biography

O'Riordan was born in County Limerick, Ireland, to a Catholic working-class family. She was the youngest of nine children. Her father, Terence Patrick "Terry" O'Riordan (1937–2011), worked as a farm labourer until a motorbike accident in 1968 left him brain damaged. Her mother, Eileen (née Greensmith), was a school caterer.

O'Riordan was singing before she could talk. When she was five years of age, the principal of her school took her into the sixth class, sat her on the teacher's desk, and told her to sing for the twelve-year-old students in the class. She started with traditional Irish music and playing the Irish tin whistle when she went to school. She then began to perform as a soloist in her church choir. She described having a strict daily routine through her teenage years that consisted of going to piano lessons, going to church and doing homework.

Around this time, O'Riordan divided the rest of her schedule between assisting her mother, learning the accordion from her dad, and part-time employment at clothing shops. Her mother, whom she "adored", encouraged her to consider becoming a nun or get a college degree and become a music teacher; instead, she ran away from home at eighteen and lived a couple of years with her boyfriend. In an interview with VOX Magazine, O'Riordan clarified her reasons for leaving home: "At 18 I left home because I wanted to sing. My parents wanted me to go to college and things like that. I was really poor for a year-and-a-half; I remember actually being hungry, like I'd die for a bag of chips. That's when I joined the Cranberries".

Recognised for her "unique" voice, she quickly achieved worldwide fame. During her lifetime, she released seven studio albums with the Cranberries, including four number-one albums. Over the years, she contributed to the release of 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) before taking 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. She reunited with the Cranberries the same year. The band released Roses (2012) and went on a world tour. She appeared as a judge on RTÉ's The Voice of Ireland during the 2013–14 season. In April 2014, O'Riordan joined and began recording new material with the trio D.A.R.K. Throughout her life, she had to overcome personal challenges. O'Riordan struggled with depression and the pressure of her own success, and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2015. She subsequently released her last album with the group, Something Else (2017).

O'Riordan accidentally drowned in January 2018. The following year, the Cranberries released the Grammy-nominated album In the End (2019), featuring her final vocal recordings, and subsequently disbanded. With the Cranberries, O'Riordan sold more than 40 million albums worldwide during her lifetime; that total increased to almost 50 million albums worldwide as of 2019, excluding her solo albums. In the US, she was awarded 14 Platinum album certifications by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and in Canada, 10 Platinum certifications. In the UK, she received five Platinum certifications. She was honoured with the Ivor Novello International Achievement award, and in the months following her death, she was named "The Top Female Artist of All Time" on Billboard's Alternative Songs chart.

Artistry

Influences

O'Riordan's deeply religious mother, a devotee of Elvis Presley, had a strong influence on her. She was influenced by Gregorian chant at an early age, which remained her main influence until the end of her life. Months before she died, O'Riordan tested the resonance and the acoustics of the Glenstal Abbey church in Ireland to sing there. O'Riordan stated that this apprenticeship by this detachment of the world in a raw and devoted setting influenced a lot of her development as an artist and as a musician.

She referred to Presley and John Lennon as particularly large influences during her early years. Other early influences include, Frank Sinatra, Jim Reeves and Bing Crosby. In her teenage years, O'Riordan spent much of her time with her brothers who listened to heavy metal music, while being equally passionate about rock and Gaelic folk music.

When she had reached the age of sixteen, O'Riordan had started listening to the Smiths, the Cure, R.E.M., Depeche Mode, which constituted her primary musical influences. She had also been influenced by the Kinks, Magazine, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and New Order.

She credited Johnny McEvoy's song "The Old Bog Road" as one of the most beautiful old Irish songs and praised the Pogues' songs. She made a reference to Ireland's most famous poet, William Butler Yeats. O'Riordan stated of the grunge decade; "creatively it was a really great time", mentioning Pearl Jam, Blind Melon and Nirvana. She wrote the song "I'm Still Remembering" six months after the death of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. In 2009, talking about her three favourite albums, O'Riordan mentioned the Smiths' album The Smiths, Depeche Mode's album Violator, and the original soundtrack of the film The Mission. Her other musical influences include Morrissey, Led Zeppelin, also Metallica, and James Hetfield whom she met in 1995. She drew her influences from everyday life, events that occurred in the world, or her friendly and romantic relationships.

Songwriting and musicianship

O'Riordan penned her first song, called "Calling", at the age of 12. She had a preference for solitude as an approach to writing songs.

O'Riordan performing in Montreal in 2009

O'Riordan tended to write her ideas continuously through the day, although most of the melodies came in the night since she struggled with insomnia.

I draw from a lot of different life experiences: births, deaths, war, pain, depression, anger, sadness. [ ... ] I found it very easy to write lyrics when I was younger because I had no inhibitions—they just came pouring out. I find as I get older it's more difficult: you develop fears and you go, 'What will people think of this?' But it's important not to think too much about what people will think, because then you'll never write!

O'Riordan noted in Ultimate Guitar on her writing process, "lyrics are very important for me to make sure that I'm portraying whatever it is I need to portray. So I sit there but the funny thing is they've come to me anywhere". [ ... ] 'Oh, I have to go get a pen quick'. In the middle of the night when you're trying to go to sleep and they're going around in your head, your words, and you just get up and go out and write them down".

Voice

O'Riordan was a mezzo-soprano, with a vocal range from B 2 to C 6. She did not sing much in the 5th octave but rather in a range of vocal comfort. She was familiar with the vocal belting of '90s alternative rock and was also devoted to her love of falsetto. Her voice was rather light without applying an uncomfortable weight, and she characteristically deployed a soft projection when she sang the lowest notes. O'Riordan's signature singing style integrated many elements, such as the lilting voice, mournful keening, glottal ornamentation and a distinctive attack on syllables. Around the age of 40, the timbre of her voice changed and became more mature.

Personal life

On 18 July 1994, O'Riordan married Canadian-born Don Burton, who was the former tour manager of Duran Duran. They met in the U.S. while Duran Duran and the Cranberries were on tour together. The wedding was held at Holy Cross Abbey in County Tipperary. The couple had three children. O'Riordan had a stepson from Burton's previous relationship. In 1996, they lived at The Coach House, a medieval-style residence beside Ballyhannon Castle at Quin in County Clare, Ireland. They lived in their first home for a year while they planned their own ultra-modern house, including a recording studio and guest apartment, set on a 16-acre (6.5-hectare) plot in Dunquin, west County Kerry, on the Dingle Peninsula, but they spent little time there and later sold the property.

In 1998, the couple bought a 61-hectare (150-acre) stud farm, called Riversfield Stud, located in Kilmallock, County Limerick, before selling it for US$5 million in 2004. They then moved to Howth, County Dublin, where O'Riordan acquired a house in 2004, which she later sold in 2010, and spent summers in a log cabin on a property they bought in 1994, near Buckhorn, Ontario, north of Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.

Raised as a Roman Catholic, O'Riordan was an admirer of Pope John Paul II, whom she met in 2001 and 2002. She was also interested in hurling and played the sport as a child.

In 2009, O'Riordan and her family moved full-time to Buckhorn, Ontario, Canada, living in a waterfront home on Big Bald Lake.

O'Riordan and her husband Burton ended their marriage and relationship in September 2014 after 20 years together. Following her split from Burton, O'Riordan suffered from serious depression in 2014.

Death

O'Riordan accidentally drowned in her London hotel room on 15 January 2018 at the age of 46.

Legacy

O'Riordan's No Need to Argue era outfit displayed at the Hard Rock Cafe, Chicago

O'Riordan has been referred to as "one of the most distinctive voices in alternative rock history". Through her impact on the music industry, she has been described as "one of the most recognisable voices in pop culture". O'Riordan also brought an "inimitable" and "unique voice" to the 1990s' music scene and to rock music. She is considered an "icon of Irish pop" and a "1990s rock icon", characterised by a wide spectrum of vocals resources.

In January 2018, the Dallas Observer listed O'Riordan alongside David Bowie, Prince and Tom Petty as iconic musicians who died between 2016 and 2018.

O'Riordan was regarded as a humanitarian activist advocating for children throughout the world; most of the songs of O'Riordan communicated her empathy with human suffering and reflected popular hope for peace. The Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace stated that O'Riordan "left a legacy through her music that speaks for so many of us and called on all of us to follow a path of peace".

On 19 February 2018, RTÉ One broadcast a 40-minute documentary entitled Dolores, including never-before-seen interviews, produced by Dave Fanning.

Accolades

Awards and nominations

• 1995: She received an MTV Europe Music Award. "Zombie" was awarded Best Song and bested Michael Jackson's "You Are Not Alone".
• 1995: She received a World Music Award.
• 1995: She was nominated for International Group at the Brit Awards.
• 1996: She received a Juno Award.
• 1997: She was nominated for a Juno Award.
• 1997: She received the Ivor Novello Award for International Achievement, at London's Grosvenor House.
• 2008: She received a European Border Breakers Award.
• 2016: She received a BMI Awards and a Special Citation of Achievement.
• 2018: She was named the Top Female Artist of All Time in Billboard's Alternative Songs chart, encompassing soloists, group frontwomen and women in duos. On the 30th anniversary of the music chart, O'Riordan was named at the top of the 30-name list.
• 2020: She was nominated for a posthumous 2020 Grammy Awards. The Cranberries' In the End received a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Album.

Honours

• 2009: She received the University Philosophical Society's honorary patronage of Trinity College.
• 2019: She received an honorary Doctorate from the University of Limerick. The posthumous Honorary Doctorate of Letters was presented to Dolores's mother Eileen O'Riordan. Noel Hogan, Mike Hogan and Fergal Lawler were also honoured at the ceremony.

Solo discography

Albums

Singles

Other appearances

Other contributions

Filmography

Images for kids

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  The Cranberries performing on the Roxy Bar show at Bologna in 1995

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  O'Riordan in 2001

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  O'Riordan on stage during a soundcheck at Festivalbar, Italy in 2004

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

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  O'Riordan performing with her signature Gibson SG Standard electric guitar at Paris, in May 2010

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  O'Riordan playing her Gibson ES-335 electric guitar, Montreal, in 2009

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  O'Riordan holding a Shure UR2 KSM9 microphone

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  A mural featuring O'Riordan beside King John's Castle in Limerick, Ireland

See also

In Spanish: Dolores O'Riordan para niños