Cranberries Singer Mourned as 'Voice of a Generation'

She was 'full of life' in voicemail hours before death
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 16, 2018 4:05 AM CST
Updated Jan 16, 2018 5:44 AM CST
O'Riordan Was 'Full of Life' in Message Hours Before Death
In this Sunday, Jan. 27, 2008 photo, Cranberries lead singer Dolores O'Riordan performs during the European Border Breakers awards, or EBBA awards, in Cannes, southern France.   (AP Photo/Bruno Bebert, File)

Fans, family members, and fellow musicians are mourning Dolores O'Riordan, lead singer of The Cranberries, who died suddenly in London Monday. Dan Waite, manager of rock label Eleven Seven International, says he is stunned by the death of his longtime friend, who left him a voicemail just hours before her death. He says she told him she was looking forward to seeing him in the studio Monday, when she was to have recorded vocals for hard rock band Bad Wolves' cover of the Cranberries hit "Zombie." "She sounded full of life, was joking and excited to see me and my wife this week," Waite tells People. "The news of her passing is devastating and my thoughts are with Don her ex-husband, her children, and her mother," he says.

O'Riordan was found dead at a hotel Monday morning and police in London say the death is being treated as "unexplained," the AP reports. She had suffered from both physical and mental health problems for years and had to cut short a Cranberries tour last year because of back problems. She spoke openly about her battles with depression, saying last year: "You get ups as well as downs. Sure, isn't that what life's all about?" Among the many fans paying tribute Monday was Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar. "For anyone who grew up in Ireland in the 1990s, Dolores O'Riordan was the voice of a generation," he tweeted. "As the female lead singer of a hugely successful rock band, she blazed a trail and might just have been Limerick's greatest ever rock star. RIP." (More celebrity death stories.)

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