Cranberries singer Dolores O’Riordan dies, aged 46

The body of Dolores O’Riordan, singer with Irish band The Cranberries, has been found overnight in a hotel room in London’s Park Lane.

The band’s publicist confirmed that she “has died suddenly in London today.She was 46 years old.

“The lead singer with the Irish band The Cranberries, was in London for a short recording session.

“No further details are available at this time.

“Family members are devastated to hear the breaking news and have requested privacy at this very difficult time.”

A spokesperson from Metropolitan Police confirmed, “At this early stage the death is being treated as unexplained.”

The Cranberries sold 40 million albums in the 1990s, including Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? and No Need To Argue which sold 17 million worldwide.

Eminem has sampled their 1994 hit ‘Zombie’ on his new single ‘In Your Head’.

O’Riordan also released solo records and was a judge on the TV show The Voice of Ireland.

O’Riorda was born in Limerick in 1971 as the youngest of seven children, and joined The Cranberries – then called The Cranberry Saw Us – in 1990.

Her lilting West Irish voice was certainly part of their global appeal.

She proved to inspire future generations of singer-songwriters in the way she captured her listeners’ innermost feelings on songs as ‘Linger’ and ‘Zombie’.

She described ‘Linger, the first song she wrote after joining’ the band, as being inspired by “being dumped, publicly, at the disco. Everything’s so dramatic when you’re 17, so I poured it into the song.”

Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?, about her painful failures during her teenage days and rebirth as an adult, struck a chord with a generation around the world.

She told Rolling Stone,“I know exactly what every song on that album was about.

“And I know exactly what night I wrote it on and why I wrote it. And I’m kind of proud of them because they do elaborate very much how I felt at that time.”

Foster the People wrote overnight, “Shocked and heartbroken over Dolores O’Riordan’s death.

“The Cranberries were pinnacle in showing me that it was possible to fully embrace masculine and feminine energy in one cohesive sound.

“She was a true pioneer.”

Hozier recalled, “My first time hearing Dolores O’Riordan’s voice was unforgettable.

“It threw into question what a voice could sound like in that context of Rock.

“I’d never heard somebody use their instrument in that way.”

The Cranberries had a huge audience in Australia. Their albums topped the ARIA Charts, ‘Zombie’, inspired by IRA bombings which killed two pre-teen boys, reached #1 and ‘Linger’ was voted #3 on the triple j Hottest 100 in 1993.

O’Riordan was married to one-time Duran Duran tour manager Don Burton for 20 years and had three children with him.

Last year she revealed she had been diagnosed with bi-polar disorder.

The band had to cancel tours behind their Something Else album due to O’Riordan’s medical conditions, explained by the band as a severe back problem.