CRANBERRIES STAR LAID TO REST FINAL FAREWELL IN A TINY COUNTRY CHURCH
DOLORES O’Riordan’s haunting voice filled the air as family and friends packed a small church in rural Ireland to say a final goodbye.
While the singer’s deep faith resonated throughout the mass, it was her distinctive lilt which brought emotion to the fore for the hundreds of mourners.
As her coffin was carried out of St Ailbe’s in Ballybricken the poignancy of her lyrics in the song When You’re Gone struck a chord and prompted spontaneous applause. The star was brought out to the sound of her own voice and the words: “And I miss you, when you’re gone”.
At the head of the funeral party, the singer’s mother Eileen O’Riordan hugged and embraced her grandchildren as she waited for the brief journey for private burial.
This was a traditional service in a modest, pebble-dashed church in the heart of the Irish countryside, only a few miles from where O’Riordan (below) dreamed of stardom as a child. Retired parish priest and family friend Canon Liam McNamara recalled his first meeting with her in 1989.
“The memory is indelibly written on my mind,” he said. “There she is, sitting at the keyboard, playing and singing with the choir.”
Mourners heard about her inquiring mind and the ideals she shared with Martin Luther King that “each of us has a duty to work earnestly to discover and develop our talents”.
“These talents are to be used for the honour and glory of God, and for the benefit of others,” the priest said.
A few household names from the music and TV industry in Ireland came to pay respects including Ali Hewson, wife of U2 frontman Bono, and music promoter Denis Desmond.
O’Riordan (46) was found dead in a London hotel room last week.