Dolores O'Riordan

Dolores Mary Eileen O'Riordan was born in 1971 in Ballybricken, County Limerick, the youngest of seven children, and grew up singing in church choirs. In 1990 she answered an advertisement from a Limerick band seeking a vocalist, and the group, soon renamed the Cranberries, found its voice in her striking blend of Celtic lilt, keening power, and disarming intimacy.

The band's 1993 debut, Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?, carried by the singles Linger and Dreams, became an international phenomenon, and the follow-up No Need to Argue sold in the millions, driven by Zombie, her anguished response to the violence in Northern Ireland. Across five albums with the band and later solo records, she wrote with rare candour about faith, family, and grief.

O'Riordan died accidentally in London in January 2018, at the age of 46, while in the city for a recording session; her death was mourned deeply in Ireland and far beyond. The Cranberries completed their final album, In the End, around her demo vocals, earning a Grammy nomination. Her voice, instantly recognisable from a single note, remains one of the most distinctive instruments rock music has known.