5.00/5 (1 votes)The Cranberries are a legendary rock band made up of 4 Irishmen from Limerick. Famous the world over for their committed lyrics on the Irish question, and their incisive rock, the Cranberries are a legendary band, in the same vein as the likes of U2.
Zombie, Just My Imagination… These are just some of the hits that made the Cranberries famous. But what is the history of this mythical group? How did they get started?
It all began in Limerick in 1989. At the time, 4 Irishmen decided to form a small rock band called “The Cranberries Saw Us”. It was then composed of :
Unfortunately, Niall Quinn left the band a few months later, forcing the remaining members to find a new singer. After much research, the singer turns out to be Dolores O’Riordan. Passionate about music since the age of 3, the young woman breathed new life into the band, who decided to shorten the name “The Cranberries Saw Us” to “The Cranberries”.
Dolores then started writing based on a demo from the previous band. There, she fine-tunes the track Linger, and produces a song so enthusiastic that Island Records signs the band. The first single was released: “Uncertain”, which was a first failure. The band decided to start afresh by parting company with their manager. They recorded their first album in March 1993, Everybody Else Is Doing It,So Why Can’t We? Success was mixed, and the band failed to make an immediate breakthrough…
To speed things up, the Cranberries set off on a tour of the United States, opening for The The and Suede. The American public gave them a much warmer reception, and MTV saw them as a promising band. To give them a boost, the music channel regularly broadcasts the “Linger” clip. Success was immediate: the single reached number 8, and sales took off: the beginning of fame!
In July 94, Dolores O’Riordan married the band’s future manager: Don Burton, former manager of Duran Duran.
In autumn 1994, the band released their second album, “No Need to Argue”, which proved to be their biggest hit. The single “Zombie”, dedicated to the conflict in Northern Ireland, finds an international echo and peaks in the charts. This was followed by an international tour, then the release of a 3rd album in 1996, which this time failed to meet with the success we had hoped for.
April ’99 saw the release of their 4th album, “Bury the Hatchet”. Success returns, and the album sells over 3,500,000 copies. Then 2001 saw the release of “Wake Up and Smell the Coffee”, which did rather well.
In 2003, the Cranberries announced their split, as well as Dolores O’Riordan’s forthcoming solo career. They only reformed in 2009, much to the delight of their fans. In 2012, they released their 6th album, entitled “Roses”, followed by “Something Else” in 2017.
Sadly, Dolores O’Riordan died in London at the age of 46 on January 15, 2018, leaving behind a band bereft of its best-known member. His sudden death provoked strong emotion in Ireland, as well as in the rest of the world…
