Powerful Irish Singer From Rural Limerick Conquered Music World Before Tragic End

Dolores O’Riordan was born on September 6, 1971, in the quiet countryside of Ballybricken, County Limerick, Ireland — the youngest of nine children in a deeply religious Catholic household. Her name came from devotion, after the Lady of the Seven Dolours. Life was modest and often heavy. Her father, Terence, lived with brain damage after a motorcycle accident, and her mother, Eileen, carried the burden of providing for the family.