'She was dreadfully depressed': Friends reveal agony of Cranberries singer Dolores O'Riordan in the weeks before she was found dead at 46 having previously battled with alcohol and a failed suicide attempt
- The Cranberries singer Dolores O'Riordan has died suddenly at a hotel aged 46, her publicist has confirmed
- Rock star, who has recently been performing with the band D.A.R.K, was staying in London while recording
- She was found in a room of the Hilton London at 9.05am, whilethe death is being treated as 'unexplained'
- Her publicist did not comment on how she died, but said it was 'sudden' and that her family are 'devastated'
The
Cranberries singer Dolores O'Riordan was 'dreadfully depressed' before
her sudden death in a hotel aged 46, friends of the troubled singer have
revealed.
The Irish rock star was found in a room of the Hilton London in Park Lane at 9.05am on Monday, while Metropolitan Police said the death was being treated as 'unexplained'.
Her
publicist did not comment on how she died, other than it say it was
'sudden' and that her family back in Ireland are 'devastated'.
Last year the 46-year-old revealed how she had been battling depression and mental health troubles for much of her career, culminating in an attempt on her own life in 2013.
She
was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2015, and has also spoken of
struggling with eating disorders, alcoholism, and living with abuse
carried out when she was 'a little girl'.
This was the rockstar's last tweet, posted on January 4 and stating she was heading to Ireland
The
Irish rock star (pictured left in 2012), who has recently been
performing with a band called D.A.R.K, was staying in London while
recording
The star, pictured with her bandmates in 1999, recently told of trouble times she went through
O'Riordan
and her daughter Molly in 2008. She has two other children; a son named
Taylor and another daughter called Dakota, as well as a step-son named
Donnie
Met Police told MailOnline that
O'Riordan was found in a room of the Hilton London in Park Lane
(pictured) at 9.05am, and that the death was being treated as
'unexplained'
The other members of The Cranberries expressed their devastation at the death of their friend and bandmate in a Twitter post
Friends of the singer said that she was 'dreadfully depressed' in the weeks before her death, according to TMZ, and that she was also suffering from back pain that had forced her to cancel gigs for much of 2017.
In
a tweet, the other band members wrote: '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. Noel, Mike and Fergal.'
Miss
O’Riordan had three children with ex-husband Don Burton, a former tour
manager for Duran Duran to whom she was married for 21 years.
Their son Taylor, 20, and daughters Molly, 16, and Dakota, 12, live with their father in Canada.
A
statement from her publicist said: 'Irish and international singer
Dolores O'Riordan 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.'
O'Riordan,
who was born in Limerick, last posted a picture of herself with her cat
on Twitter on January 4 with the caption: 'Bye bye Gio. We're off to
Ireland.'
A Met Police spokesperson said: 'Police in Westminster are dealing with a sudden death.
'Officers were called at 9.05am on Monday to a Hotel in Park Lane. A woman in her mid 40s was pronounced dead at the scene.
'At this early stage the death is being treated as unexplained. Enquiries continue.'
Her band had recently played in South America, and she tweeted pictures of fans in Lima, Peru in December.
'She seemed happy and well': Stars pay tribute to singer Dolores O'Riordan after she dies 'unexpectedly'
James Corden and Duran Duran are among the stars to pay tribute to The Cranberries singer Dolores O'Riordan.
Comedian and TV star Corden said he met the singer when he was 15.
She
was kind and lovely,' he wrote on Twitter. 'I got her autograph on my
train ticket and it made my day. She had the most amazing voice and
presence. So sorry to hear that she's passed away today x.'
Duran Duran said they were 'crushed to hear the news. Our thoughts go out to her family at this terrible time,' they added.
Dave Davies of The Kinks shared a picture of himself with O'Riordan.
He
said: 'I'm really shocked that #DoloresORiordan has passed so suddenly -
I was talking to her a couple weeks before Christmas she seemed happy
and well - we even spoke about maybe writing some songs together -
unbelievable God bless her.'
US singer Josh Groban tweeted: 'Nooooo!! Have always adored her songs and voice.'
Stars including Beverley Knight, Ronan Keating and Brian McFadden expressed their sadness at the sudden death
The parish priest from her home town has confirmed her funeral will take place in Ireland, where she will be buried.
Father
James Walton, parish priest at Ballybricken & Bohermore Parish,
said: 'I only found out this afternoon. Her family is very devastated
and upset.
'The suddenness of her death
has been a shock. I met Dolores two or three times when she was home
visiting family. She was a lovely lady.
'Her family are still waiting for more details to come from London about her death.
'The plan is for her to be buried here at home. When that will be will depend on when her body is released.'
A
spokeswoman for London Hilton, on Park Lane, said: 'It is with deep
regret that we can confirm a guest sadly passed away at the hotel on
Monday 15th January.
'We offer our sincere condolences to their family at this difficult time.
'Team
members acted swiftly to alert the Metropolitan Police and we are
cooperating fully with their investigation. All further enquiries should
be directed to the police.'
Last year
she revealed that she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2015,
having battled with depression during much of her career.
She told Metro:
'There are two ends of the spectrum — you can get extremely depressed
and dark and lose interest in the things you love to do, then you can
get super manic.
Dolores O'Riordan from the The Cranberries joining Italian singer Zucchero onstage during a benefit show in 2004
'I
was at the hypomanic side of the spectrum on and off for a long period
but generally you can only last at that end for around three months
before you hit rock bottom and go down into depression.
'When you're manic you don't sleep and get very paranoid. So I'm dealing with it with medication.'
The
Cranberries last released an album in early 2017, but a US and European
tour was cancelled in July due to health reasons concerning O'Riordan.
In
a statement, the band explained that she was suffering from an 'ongoing
back problem' and that doctors had advised her to pull out of all her
upcoming gigs.
On December 20 O'Riordan tweeted from the band's official account, writing: 'Hi All, Dolores here. Feeling good!
A spokeswoman for London Hilton
confirmed the singer was found in one of its rooms and extended its
condolences to her family and friends
'I
did my first bit of gigging in months at the weekend, performed a few
songs at the Billboard annual staff holiday party in New York with the
house band.
'Really enjoyed it! Happy Christmas to all our fans!! Xo'
O'Riordan split from her husband of 20 years, the former tour manager of Duran Duran, Don Burton, in 2014.
In
February 2016 O'Riordan said she would use 'music, dancing and
performing to improve her mental health' after avoiding a criminal
conviction for assault at an airport.
She
was ordered to pay €6,000 to charity for headbutting, kicking, hitting
and spitting on police officers following an alleged air rage incident.
The
singer had previously admitted three assaults and obstructing a police
officer after being taken off an Aer Lingus flight from New York's JFK
to Ireland on November 10, 2014.
Medical
reports produced for the trial at Ennis District Court revealed she had
been suffering from mania, mental illness and severely impaired
judgment at the time of the incident, and that she remembered nothing
about it.
O'Riordan was mother to son Taylor and daughters Molly and Dakota.
President
of Ireland Michael D Higgins led tributes to the singer, saying: 'It is
with great sadness that I have learned of the death of Dolores
O'Riordan, musician, singer and songwriter.
'Dolores O'Riordan and The Cranberries had an immense influence on rock and pop music in Ireland and internationally.
'I
recall with fondness the late Limerick TD Jim Kemmy's introduction of
her and The Cranberries to me, and the pride he and so many others took
in their successes.
'To all those who follow and support Irish music, Irish musicians and the performing arts her death will be a big loss.'
Members of The Cranberries hold
O'Riordan and pose for a group photo at the 13th Annual MTV Video Music
Awards in September 1996
Irish
band Kodaline also offered condolences, writing on Twitter: 'Absolutely
shocked to hear about the passing of Dolores O'Riordan!
'@The-Cranberries
gave us our first big support when we toured with them around France
years ago! Thoughts are with her family and friends.'
Formed in Limerick, Ireland, The Cranberries became international stars in the 1990s with hits including Zombie and Linger.
The band split up in 2003 but reunited several years later, last releasing the acoustic album Something Else in 2017.
'At
home I'm a house-keeper and a mum. The kids are, like, "What's for
dinner? Where are my clothes?". On tour it's, like: "room-service",' she
said of the comeback.
O'Riordan, from Friarstown, Kilmallock, Co Limerick, was renowned for her distinctive singing voice.
She
became a multi award-winning musician after becoming lead singer of the
band when she was just 18 and went on to sell tens of millions of
records.
O'Riodan
is seen on stage with The Cranberries in Paris in 2010 (left). Shown
right, she is seen on her wedding day in 1994 with husband Don Burton
(right)
Duran Duran wrote on
Twitter: 'We are crushed to hear the news about the passing of Dolores
O'Riordan. Our thoughts go out to her family at this terrible time.'
The
Cranberries and D.A.R.K front woman had been rehearsing in Limerick
venue Dolan’s Warehouse last month, and had been planning a home town
gig, staff said.
A book of condolence
is expected to open from 10am, Tuesday morning, at Limerick City and
County Council’s headquarters at Merchants Quay.
Local
singer songwriter Brian O’Connor, who passed on his 'sympathies' to
O’Riordan’s family and her band mates, said he was 'in total shock' at
news of her death.
O’Connor, a close friend of Cranberries guitarist Noel Hogan, described O’Riordan as 'an icon' in the music industry.
Paying
tribute, he remembered first meeting O’Riordan in the early 1990s,
whilst she attended her debut recording sessions with The Cranberries at
Xeric Studios, Limerick, run by the bands former manager Pearse
Gilmore.
'I knew Dolores in the early
days. I remember her being in the recording studio and she was obsessed
with instruments and music. I can't believe it. It's absolutely
shocking,” O’Connor said.
'It's just a
terrible shock. She was a fantastic talent. In fact, she was a great
great iconic figure in Irish music, no doubt about it,” he said.
'She
put Limerick on the map. She was a very distinctive singer, more so
than anyone else. Just imagine U2 without Bono. I feel for her band
mates, but it's worse for her family and her kids.”
O’Connor
added: 'She was the most iconic Irish singer ever, I think… You can
name them all from John McCormack. When you travel abroad and you hear
“Zombie” and “Dreams” and “Linger” — that's Ireland, that's Limerick.
Those songs are played everywhere you go in the world.”
O’Riordan
grew up in the tranquil rural townland of Ballybricken, 17 kilometres
from Limerick city. She she also lived in Patrickswell.
Dolores O'Riordan performs onstage in San Francisco, California, USA in December 1993
The
close-knit community of Ballybricken were rallying around O’Riordan’s
“devastated” mother Eileen, and her six siblings. O’Riordan’s father
Terry passed away after battling illness in 2011.
It's
expected the Limerick rock star's remains will be flown home to
Ballybricken for burial, however no funeral plans have been formalised.
Brigid
Teefy, a family friend, who lives in Ballybricken, and is a local
Independent councillor, was in deep shock at hearing of O'Riordan's
sudden death.
'Oh my God, it's just
unbelievable. It's a huge shock for is all here. Dolores was such a
talented lady. We are all very proud of her,' Teefy said.
“Dolores was very close with her mother and family. It's a massive massive shock. She did so well. She was unbelievable.'
Teefy
added: 'Dolores would come and go here all the time. She had been home
very regularly. She was world famous but she was always very grounded
and very attached to her native place. She was allowed to be herself
here.'
Formed in Limerick, Ireland, The
Cranberries (pictured in 1999) became international stars in the 1990s
with hits including Zombie and Linger
Teefy
said that, despite O’Riordan’s fame, she never had bodyguards or
security with her when she travelled back to Ballybricken: 'She would
always be out running and jogging. She could be herself around here. She
was simply Dolores to everybody here. She never had any security with
her; She was lovely.'
Passing on her
'deepest sympathy to Dolores’ own children, her mother, and her while
family', Teefy added. 'It's hard to take it in'.
O'Riordan
was also a regular on the jogging trails along the Condell Road in
Limerick city, despite being an international music star.
She had rehearsed in Limerick music venue Dolans Warehouse a month ago and was planning to play there soon, staff said.
O’Riordan’s
new music project D.A.R.K had to cancel their first ever Limerick gig
at Dolans in 2016, citing O’Riordan’s ongoing battle with back pain.
Neil Dolan, son of owner Mick Dolan, said everyone at the venue was 'devastated'.
'She
brought Limerick to a global stage, and to the forefront of world
music. She was an exceptional talent,' he said.She was rehearsing here a
month ago. It's very very sad. She seemed a very nice lady.'
'She
wanted to do a home town gig, but it didn't materialise because of her
back problems. She was meant to do a gig here with D.A.R.K, but
couldn't, because of back problems so they had to cancel.”
'Apparently
she had a serious back injury. A lot of her European tour dates were
cancelled at the time. The last two years of her life, I'd imagine, she
was living in a lot of (back) pain.”
Dolan added: 'She's been a superstar since she was a kid. She was quite a private person.”
Dolores O'Riordan poses with her
European Border Breakers Award in 2008, following the release of her
solo album Are You Listening?
Limerick
Metropolitan Mayor, Sean Lynch, a former detective who helped put
behind bars some of Limerick’s most motorists hardened criminals, said
he was so shaken by O'Riordan's death could not bring himself to attend a
meeting on the future of policing in the region being held this evening
at Thomond Park, the home of Munster rugby.
'I'm absolutely (shocked)...I couldn't go to the meeting. I can't get over it. I'm totally shocked,' Lynch said.
'She
lived in Patrickswell as a young girl. I wanted to give her a mayoral
reception before I ended my tenure. I'm sitting in my car and I just
can't believe it. It's such a sad sad story. She put Limerick on the
world stage. Poor Dolores,' he added.
Paying tribute Lynch said O'Riordan 'never ever forgot her roots'.
'She was Limerick through and through. This is as sad as it gets. She was an icon.'
Lynch said he admired O’Riordan for many reasons, especially for her strong character.
'She
was great role model for all women. I'm sure she opened the doors for
females to take a lead role in (rock) bands, as well as in business. She
was bold and tough in an era when the lead singer of a band was nearly
always male.'
'She was class act. She was unique...She had a unique voice. She had a great story in everything she sung; She was magic.'
'My
deepest sympathies go to her family. What a loss to Limerick, what a
loss to Ireland. We won't see the likes of her again,' Lynch said.
Family
friend, Canon Liam McNamara, who was a co-celebrant at Dolores’ 1994
wedding to 80s rock group tour manager Don Burton in Holycross Abbey, Co
Tipperary, told the Limerick Leader newspaper: 'My heart goes out to
the family. Dolores was their pride and joy. We all loved her very, very
much.''She got on well all the way through her life. I was very
disappointed to hear today that she has left us so early in life. Her
family did so much for her and supported her all the way through,' added
Canon McNamara, who also officiated at the funeral Mass of Dolores'
father Terry in Ballybricken in 2011.
Fr James Walton, priest in Dolores' home parish of Ballybricken, expressed his deepest sympathies to the family.
'I wish to extend my deepest sympathies to the family. I am just going down to meet the family now,' Fr Walton told the Leader.
The singer rose to fame in the 1990s with the indie band, most famous for their song Zombie
Troubled
life of singer who was sexually assaulted as 'a little girl', suffered
mid-air meltdown and admitted she was 'an accident waiting to happen'
Born
and raised in County Limerick, Dolores O'Riordan was still in her teens
when she answered an advert for a female singer for a rock band called
The Cranberry Saw Us.
Having written
her own songs since she was 12, she tried out for the group by showing
off both her lilting vocals and her ability to pen melodies and words
for their demos.
Existing members Mike
and Noel Hogan and Fergal Lawler snapped her up and together they became
The Cranberries, increasingly becoming known for O'Riordan's
distinctive wailing voice.
One of the
demos she had worked on for her audition was Linger, which gave The
Cranberries a number three hit in Ireland in 1993 and proved to be their
breakthrough track. More success followed with songs such as Salvation
and Zombie, which scooped a coveted Ivor Novello Award.
They
unveiled their debut studio album - entitled Everybody Else Is Doing
It, So Why Can't We? - in 1993 and it topped the charts.
The singer, pictured in 2000, had continued to perform with other bands since the Cranberries
Successful
follow ups No Need To Argue and To the Faithful Departed came in 1994
and 1996, cementing the band's status as a mainstream international rock
band. To date the group has sold over 40 million records.
But by 2003 it was time for a change and the band announced they were taking some time off to pursue other opportunities.
O'Riordan
seized the opportunity to pursue a solo career and released the albums
Are You Listening? (2007) and No Baggage (2009).
But while her musical ventures thrived, the singer was battling depression and mental health troubles in her personal life.
In an interview in 2013 she said she had been abused as a child which she said later led to an eating disorder and a breakdown.
'I
had anorexia, then depression, a breakdown,' she said. 'I knew why I
hated myself. I knew why I loathed myself. I knew why I wanted to make
myself disappear.'
O'Riordan married Don Burton, the former tour manager of Duran Duran, in 1994 and they had three children.
Her family, she said, were her 'salvation'.
But
there was more heartbreak ahead, with the singer losing her beloved
father in 2011 and her marriage coming to an end in 2014.
Two
years later O'Riordan was ordered to pay 6,000 euro to charity for
headbutting, kicking, hitting and spitting on police officers following
an alleged air rage incident.
The
singer had previously admitted three assaults and obstructing a garda
after being taken off an Aer Lingus flight from New York's JFK to
Ireland in November 2014.
O'Riordan's publicist did not comment on how she died, other than it say it was 'sudden' and that her family are 'devastated'
Medical
reports produced for the trial at Ennis District Court revealed she had
been suffering from mania, mental illness and severely impaired
judgement at the time of the incident, and that she remembered nothing
about it.
Last year she revealed she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2015.
She
told Metro: 'There are two ends of the spectrum - you can get extremely
depressed and dark and lose interest in the things you love to do, then
you can get super manic.
'I was at the
hypomanic side of the spectrum on and off for a long period but
generally you can only last at that end for around three months before
you hit rock bottom and go down into depression. When you're manic you
don't sleep and get very paranoid.'
The star said she was dealing with it with medication.
In
another revealing interview O'Riordan told the Irish News that
depression 'whatever the cause, is one of the worst things to go
through', but that her family had given her happiness.
'I've
also had a lot of joy in my life, especially with my children," she
said. 'You get ups as well as downs. Sure isn't that what life's all
about?'
