In a 2001 interview with the Sunday Independent, the artist revealed that she was “anti anything that was girlie” until she was 17. She also had to grow up faster than other children, describing a strict daily routine throughout her teenage years that revolved around piano lessons, church, and homework.
At the same time, her wild side was always present — the part of her that would later help her perform on stage in front of millions, completely at ease and enjoying being herself, doing what she loved most. According to her school friend Catherina Egan, she was “boisterous, wild, but lovely”
But she followed her own path, running away from home at 18 and spending a few years living with her boyfriend.
”At 18 I left home because I wanted to sing. My parents wanted me to go to college and things like that. I was really poor for a year-and-a-half; I remember actually being hungry, like I’d die for a bag of chips. That’s when I joined the Cranberries,” she said.
In 1990, a local band called the Cranberry Saw Us was searching for a new lead singer when a young, talented singer from Limerick, who had run away from home, stepped in to fill the role. Her name? Dolores O’Riordan.
“She came and sang a few songs she had written,” said the band’s guitarist Noel Hogan. “We were blown away that this small girl from Limerick had such an amazing voice. The fact that she wasn’t already in a band was a miracle.”
The band soon adopted the simpler name, the Cranberries, and Dolores O’Riordan. would go on to become their legendary frontwoman.
At first, she was quite shy on stage, often performing with her back to the audience. But the femininity and the unique Irish tone to her voice was immense and captured hearts everywhere.
“There was no big act,” Hogan recalls. “I think that resonated with people.”
