Cranberries‘ frontwoman Dolores O’Riordan died by drowning due to alcohol intoxication, an inquest has heard.
The singer died suddenly on 15 January, and was found submerged in the bath in her room at the Park Lane Hilton hotel. She was 46-years-old.
During an inquest at Westminster Coroner’s Court heard, the coroner heard she had no injuries or evidence of self harm. Coroner Shirley Radcliffe ruled that O’Riordan’s death was an accident.
Today would have been her 47th birthday.
“On January 15th 2018, we lost our dear friend and bandmate Dolores O’Riordan,” the surviving Cranberries said in a statement. “Today we continue to come to terms with what happened.
“Our heartfelt condolences go out to Dolores’ children and her family, and our thoughts are with them today.”
They continued: “Dolores will live on eternally in her music. To see how much of a positive impact she had on people’s lives has been a source of great comfort to us. We’d like to say thank you to all of our fans for the outpouring of messages and their continued support during this difficult time.
“We request, please, for privacy at this time.”
— The Cranberries (@The_Cranberries) September 6, 2018
A mother-of-three from Kilmallock in Co Limerick, t Irish singer fronted Cranberries from 1990 to 2003, when they went on hiatus. She was a part of their later reunion in 2009.
O’Riordan was born in Limerick in 1971. She auditioned to be The Cranberries’ lead singer in 1990, and went on to achieve global success with the band, with singles ‘Linger’ and ‘Zombie’ being certified silver and gold in the UK respectively.
Writing at the time of her death, her bandmates said: “We are devastated on the passing of our friend Dolores. She was an extraordinary talent and we feel very privileged to have been part of her life from 1989 when we started the Cranberries.
“The world has lost a true artist today. Noel, Mike and Fergal.”
The band have announced plans for new material and a reissue of their 1993 debut ‘Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?’ to mark its 25th anniversary. Both projects were in the works before O’Riordan died.
“We can confirm that, since last summer, the band had been working with Universal Music on the creation of a 25th anniversary edition of the album, a newly remastered version with previously unreleased material of ours as well as other bonus material from the era of our debut album,” they wrote.
It is due for release later this year.