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Artist News
The Cranberries’ Dolores O’Riordan dies
By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 16 January 2018
The Cranberries’ frontwoman Dolores O’Riordan has died. No cause of death has yet been given. She was 46.
According to a brief statement yesterday, the musician had been in London for a recording session and had died “suddenly” while in the city. Police are reportedly not treating the death as suspicious.
Her bandmates – Noel Hogan, Mike Hogan and Fergal Lawler – commented: “We are devastated on the passing of our friend Dolores. She was an extraordinary talent and we feel very privileged to have been part of her life from 1989 when we started The Cranberries. The world has lost a true artist today”.
The Cranberries released their first album for five years, ‘Something Else’, in April last year, featuring acoustic and orchestral versions of songs from their back catalogue. But in June, the band cancelled tour dates in support of the record, due to ongoing back problems experienced by O’Riordan.
Last month, she told fans that she was “feeling good”, and had done her “first bit of gigging in months” when she performed at the Billboard staff Christmas party.
O’Riordan was scheduled to record vocals on hard rock band Bad Wolves’ version of Cranberries hit ‘Zombie’ yesterday. Paying tribute, the band’s Tommy Vext: “We are shocked and saddened at the news of Dolores’s passing, mere hours before she was to record vocals on our upcoming version of ‘Zombie’. We have always had deep respect for her as an artist and a vocalist and she was never afraid to bare her soul in her music and lyrics”.
He continued: “‘Zombie’ is an incredibly personal song and although we are a hard rock band, we always felt the rawness and honesty she projected on stage and in her recordings was something to which all bands should aspire to, regardless of genre. When we heard she liked our version and wanted to sing on it, it was the greatest compliment a new band, or any band for that matter, could have received”.
The band’s “hearts are broken that we were not able to see this collaboration through”, he added. “We hope we can still make her proud by sharing our version of ‘Zombie’ with the world”.
Originally released in 1994, ‘Zombie’ was The Cranberries’ biggest hit. A sample from the song also appears on ‘In Your Head’, on Eminem’s latest album ‘Revival’.
