Dolores O’Riordan was laid to rest in her home city in County Limerick, Ireland, on Tuesday (January 23).
The Cranberries frontwoman, who died on January 15 at 46, was remembered by friends and family at a mass in Saint Ailbe’s church in Ballybricken, before she was buried next to her late father Terence in a private burial at the nearby Caherelly cemetery.
Among the guests at the service was Dolores’ boyfriend Ole Koretsky, her mother Eileen, her ex-husband Don Burton and their children Taylor, Molly and Dakota Burton, Bono’s wife Ali Hewson and The Cranberries band members Mike and Noel Hogan and Fergal Lawlor.
A rendition of classic tune Ave Maria, sung by Dolores and Luciano Pavarotti, began the service, before Canon Liam McNamara, a retired parish priest and close friend of the O’Riordan family, told the congregation of the late singer: “Her kind personality and beautiful singing voice earned for her numerous admirers. It must be added that the numbers she rescued from the darkness of depression are impossible to count.
“No words are adequate to describe Dolores or to accurately state the influence for good she has been over the years.”
Two gifts which represented Dolores’ love of music, a guitar, and a platinum disc award, were taken to the altar by her niece Eileen, while her nephew Patrick presented a picture which once belonged to her great great great grandmother of Our Lady of Dolours, after whom Dolores was named. Dolores’ life-long friend Breffni also took a poetry book up to the altar.
Dolores’ sister Angela did the first reading, while the second was done by her nephew Andrew, who also performed at the end of the service alongside brother Daniel, both of whom had been members of the Limerick Pipe Band.
Dolores’ five godchildren, Brandon, Colm, Gerard, Luke, and Megan, read the Prayers of the Faithful.
Canon McNamara, who remembered Dolores as having a “gentle voice, a loving smile and warm humor”, also referenced the remaining members of The Cranberries, telling them: “It’s tough for you too. We’ll always remember you. Sympathies from the heart.”
Independent radio stations in Ireland also paid tribute to the singer by playing the group’s 1996 hit When You’re Gone after the midday news on Tuesday.
While the Metropolitan Police are not treating Dolores’ death as suspicious, an inquest into her passing has been adjourned until April 3, as the coroner awaits test results.
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