Dolores Mary Eileen O’Riordan (September 6, 1971 – January 15, 2018) was an Irish musician who was the lead vocalist and lyricist of The Cranberries. One of the most recognizable voices in rock in the 1990s, she was known for her lilting mezzo-soprano voice, signature yodel, emphasized use of keening, and strong Limerick accent.
In 1989, brothers Mike (bass) and Noel (guitar) Hogan formed The Cranberries with drummer Fergal Lawler and singer Niall Quinn, in Limerick, Ireland. Less than a year later, Quinn left the band. He then told the remaining members that his girlfriend knew a girl who was looking for a band playing original material.
In mid-1990, on a Sunday afternoon, O’Riordan and Quinn came to the band’s rehearsal room, Noel Hogan later recalled that “Niall came up with Dolores on that Sunday and I remember she was shy, very soft-spoken. Not the Dolores that everyone grew to know. And she comes in and we’re just kind of a gang of young guys sitting around the place. It must have been very, very intimidating for her.” O’Riordan sang a couple of songs that she had written and she also did a Sinéad O’Connor song, “Troy.” The band was impressed and gave her a cassette with instrumentals, asking her if she could work on it. When she returned with a rough version of “Linger,” she was hired. Hogan told Rolling Stone that “the minute she sang, you know, it was like your jaw drops at her voice. Dolores was musically far superior to me, because she had been doing it all her life.”
O’Riordan was still a student at Laurel Hill Coláiste FCJ secondary school when she first joined the band. She had set her sights on the musical life and her desire to be in “a band with no barriers, where I could write my own songs,” she told The Guardian in 1995. At the time, she was doing her Leaving Certificate. However, the academic study did not hold much interest for her—although her marks in school were good. As a result, O’Riordan left school without any qualifications.
The Cranberries recorded demo tapes, including Nothing Left at All, a three-track EP released on tape by local record label Xeric Records, which sold 300 copies. The owner of Xeric Studios, Pearse Gilmore, became their manager and provided the group with studio time to complete another demo tape, which he produced. It featured early versions of “Linger” and “Dreams,” which were sent to record companies in the UK. This demo gained attention from both the UK press and record industry, and sparked a bidding war between record labels. Eventually, the group signed with Island Records. The group changed their name to “The Cranberries” and released a four-track EP, Uncertain.
By then, O’Riordan experienced difficult touring conditions with low income, sleeping on people’s floors and in cramped vans across Ireland and UK. Furthermore, she had to overcome her shyness at the time during the early live performances with The Cranberries, singing “with her back to the audience.” Lawler recalled, “we just went up, and we had six songs. Dolores was turned to the side; Noel, Mike and I had our heads down.” At this stage, she had spent eight years with classical piano, and had played the harmonium in her church for ten years. O’Riordan had been rapidly gaining international attention after the release of The Cranberries’ first album, Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?. It contained the group’s most successful singles, “Dreams” and “Linger,” which charted at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 when she was only 22.
She was a wonderful singer. Sadly missed. Taken too young :-(
ReplyDelete