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Dolores O'Riordan was a creative person who never enjoyed fame

Dolores O'Riordan performs at Festival di Sanremo song contest in San Remo, Italy in 2002. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Dolores O'Riordan performs at Festival di Sanremo song contest in San Remo, Italy in 2002. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini) Dolores O'Riordan performs at Festival di Sanremo song contest in San Remo, Italy in 2002. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Dolores O’Riordan was a worldwide star who never enjoyed the fame.

The Cranberries debut album in 1993 changed her life. She went from the lead singer in a Limerick band with a little bit of local notoriety to a major star in the US. And, it’s a bit of a cliché, but it did seem to happen overnight.

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One day friends of the band were volunteering to take part in a very cheaply produced video for what would become the hit single Linger, and the next day the Cranberries were doing stadium tours.

Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? sold more than five million copies in the US alone and made stars of the band and lead singer Dolores around the world.

Just a few years previously, when she joined the band in 1990, Dolores would perform with her back to the audience.

Numerous gigs around Limerick were conducted like this, with Dolores singing facing the rear of the stage and moving through the song list without any word of introduction or commentary to the audience.

But then there was something about her voice which everybody recognised as special.

Strangely, Dolores seemed to be more of a star outside Ireland. For some reason, US and European audiences took to the Cranberries music much more than their own people.

And perhaps that is why she returned to live in Ireland a number of times, most recently after she split from her husband.

She was a creative person who has been taken from her family, friends and fans way too soon.