The surviving members of the Cranberries have spoken publicly for the first time about the death of their lead singer Dolores O'Riordan, describing how she was in high spirits and working on new material in the days before her death. Guitarist Noel Hogan last saw O'Riordan in November 2017 at a Limerick hotel, where they met a Chinese journalist. Despite ongoing back problems that had forced the cancellation of a tour, she was upbeat and eager to work.
On 14 January, O'Riordan emailed Hogan new songs. Early the next morning, she left a friend an excited voicemail saying a new recording sounded “fucking terribly good”. Later that night, she died at the age of 46. An inquest later ruled that she had drowned accidentally in her bath, with high levels of alcohol in her blood.
The band threw themselves into completing their final album, which was nearly finished at the time of her death. Hogan, his brother Mike (bassist), and drummer Fergal Lawler said the process felt eerily normal because O'Riordan would often record her vocals alone at night. “There were nights when we were waiting, looking for her to come in the door,” Mike Hogan recalled.
O'Riordan had previously spoken about being sexually abused between the ages of eight and 12, and her emotional lyrics drew from a troubled life. Her distinctive yodeling style, learned from her father, helped propel the band to global fame with hits like Linger, her first written song for the group.
