Dolores O'Riordan
Background information
Birth name	Dolores Mary Eileen O'Riordan
Born	6 September 1971 (1971-09-06) (age 38) Limerick, Ireland
Genres	Alternative rock Indie rock Post-grunge Celtic rock
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocal, Guitar, Keyboards, Piccolo
Years active	1989-present
Labels	Sanctuary Records Cooking Vinyl
Associated acts	The Cranberries
Website	Doloresoriordan.ie

Dolores Mary Eileen O'Riordan (born 6 September 1971) is an Irish singer and songwriter. She led The Cranberries to worldwide success and fame for 13 years before the band took a hiatus in 2003. Her first solo album Are You Listening? was released in May 2007. Her second solo album No Baggage was released in August 2009.

Early life

Dolores O'Riordan was the youngest of seven in Ballybricken, Limerick, Ireland. She was born into a Catholic family, but does not now attend Mass.¹

Career

1989–2003: The Cranberries

In 1990 O'Riordan auditioned and won the role of lead singer for a band called The Cranberry Saw Us (later changed to The Cranberries).

The band released five albums: Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? (1993), No Need to Argue (1994), To the Faithful Departed (1996), Bury the Hatchet (1999) and Wake Up and Smell the Coffee (2001) and a greatest-hits compilation entitled Stars - The Best of 1992 - 2002 (2002), before they went on hiatus.

Throughout the '90s, O'Riordan was recognized for her changing hairstyles, from shoulder-length to very short crop in myriad colors and shades.^{citation needed} She usually performs barefoot on stage.^{citation needed}

2003–present: Solo career

It has been said that in 2003 O'Riordan was to feature on the soundtrack to Spider-Man 2 with the song "Black Widow", which is featured on her first solo album "Are You Listening?". However, she dismissed this as an unfounded Internet rumor during an interview in 2007.² In 2004 O'Riordan appeared with the Italian artist Zucchero on the album Zu & Co., with the song "Pure Love". The album also featured other artists such as Sting, Sheryl Crow, Luciano Pavarotti, Miles Davis, John Lee Hooker, Macy Gray and Eric Clapton. The same year she worked with composer Angelo Badalamenti on the Evilenko soundtrack, providing vocals on several tracks, including "Angels Go The Heaven", the movie theme.

In 2005 she appeared on the Jam & Spoon's album Tripomatic Fairytales 3003 as a guest vocalist on the track "Mirror Lover". O'Riordan also made a cameo appearance in the Adam Sandler comedy Click, released on 23 June 2006, as a wedding singer performing an alternate version of The Cranberries' song "Linger", set to strings.

The first single, “Ordinary Day”, was produced by BRIT Awards winner, Youth, whose previous credits include The Verve, Embrace, Primal Scream, U2 and Paul McCartney.

O'Riordan made an appearance live on the The Late Late Show (Irish television) on 20 April 2007.

Are You Listening? was released on 4 May 2007 in the Republic of Ireland. It was subsequently released in Europe on 7 May 2007, and in North America on 15 May 2007, with "Ordinary Day" as its first single, released in late April. The video for "Ordinary Day" was shot in Prague. In August "When We Were Young" was released as the second single lifted from the album.³⁴

On 19 November 2007 she canceled the remainder of her European Tour (Lille, Paris, Luxembourg, Warsaw and Prague) due to illness. O'Riordan went on to perform a few small American club gigs in December, including Des Moines, Nashville, and a well-received free show in Charlottesville, Virginia.⁵ On the last day of 2008, it was announced on her official website that her second album, No Baggage, featuring eleven tracks, would be released August 24, 2009.

O'Riordan is set to make her acting debut in the upcoming David Grieco film, 'Secrets of Love'. Principal photography was set to begin spring 2009. "Secrets of Love is a story about obsession; an obsession concerning the mysterious murder of singer Sarah Blisset (played by O'Riordan).

Band members

• Dolores O'Riordan - vocals
• Steve DeMarchi - guitar, backing vocals
• Denny DeMarchi - keyboards, guitars, flute, wind instruments, backing vocals
• Marco Mendoza - bass guitar, backing vocals
• Graham Hopkins - drums, percussion, backing vocals

The Cranberries reunion

On August 25, 2009, while promoting her solo album release "No Baggage" in New York City on 101.9 RXP radio, O'Riordan announced the reunion of The Cranberries for a world tour. Tour will start in North America in mid November, followed by tour in South America in mid January of 2010 and Europe in March 2010.⁶. Also touring with the original members of The Cranberries, is musician Denny DeMarchi who played the keyboard for O'Riordan's solo albums.⁷. The Band will be playing songs from O'Riordan's solo albums, many of The Cranberries classic hits as well as some new songs the band has been working on.

Personal life

On 18 July 1994, O'Riordan married Don Burton, the former tour manager of Duran Duran. Their first child, Taylor Baxter, was born on 23 November 1997, during the break between the releases of To the Faithful Departed and Bury the Hatchet. Molly Leigh was born on 27 January 2001, and Dakota Rain on 10 April 2005.

In 1998 she bought a 61 hectare (150 acre) stud farm, called Riversfield Stud, located in Kilmallock, County Limerick. She lived there for six years before selling it in 2004.⁸

She was unsuccessfully sued by a former nanny, Joy Fahy, in 2004 for breach of contract.

In 2006 O'Riordan was listed among the ten richest women in Ireland.⁹

O'Riordan lived in Howth, County Dublin with her husband and their four children (one is from a previous relationship of Burton's). The family once divided their time between homes in Dublin and a log cabin located in Buckhorn, Ontario, Canada that was bought in 1994.¹⁰¹¹ In 2009, her family moved full time to their home in Buckhorn.¹²

Discography

Studio albums

Solo

• Are You Listening? (2007)
• No Baggage (2009)

The Cranberries

• Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? (1993)
• No Need to Argue (1994)
• To the Faithful Departed (1996)
• Bury the Hatchet (1999)
• Wake Up and Smell the Coffee (2001)

Other appearances

• Moose "Soon Is Never Soon Enough" (1992) (backing vocals)
• Touch of Oliver "Carousel" (1993) (backing vocals)
• Jah Wobble "The Sun Does Rise" (1994) (duet)
• "God Be With You" on The Devil's Own soundtrack (1997) (solo track)
• "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll" (various artists benefit single for A Children's Promise, Rolling Stones cover) (1999) (vocals)
• "Ave Maria" on Songs Inspired by the Passion of the Christ (2004) (solo track)
• "Angels Go To Heaven" & "The Woodstrip/There's No Way Out" (composed by Angelo Badalamenti) on Evilenko soundtrack (2004) (vocals)
• Zucchero "Pure Love" (2004) (duet)
• Jam & Spoon "Mirror Lover" (2005) (vocals)
• Angelo Badalamenti "The Butterfly" (2006) (vocals)
• Movie, "Click (film)," dir. by Frank Coraci starring Adam Sandler. "Linger," lounge version; appeared as the singer for the band during the son's wedding reception scene (2006)
• Giuliano Sangiorgi "Senza Fiato" (2007) (duet)
• "Centipede Sisters" on Roll Play 2 digital soundtrack (2008)

References

External links

Official Links

• Official Website
• Dolores O'Riordan at the Internet Movie Database