Next to U-2, Ireland's The Cranberries were the biggest band to come out of the Emerald Isle. Powered by the pixieish and influential lead singer Dolores O'Riordan, the group had numerous international hits in the 1990s before the band went on hiatus from 2003 to 2009. It was with shock and true sadness that her fans all over the world learned that O'Riordan died in London on Monday of unspecified causes at the obscenely early age of 46.
Irish President Michael Higgins called her death "a big loss," and her fellow countrymen in U-2 said of Limerick native O'Riordan, "Out of the West came this storm of a voice - she had such strength of conviction, yet she could speak to the fragility in all of us. Limerick's 'Bel canto.'" Many tributes have followed. Here are just three of her songs, showcasing her uniquely lovely voice, which will remain classics long into the future. Rest in peace.
(photo: O'Riordan with Luciano Pavarotti, 1995)
