Cranberries singer drowned in bath after morning booze binge
POP star Dolores O’Riordan drowned in her hotel bath after an early morning drinking spree, an inquest heard yesterday.
A maid discovered the body of The Cranberries lead singer submerged and face up at the Hilton in London’s Park Lane.
The acclaimed songwriter, 46, who had struggled with alcoholism, was four times the drink-drive limit.
A 35cl bottle of champagne and five miniature bottles of spirits were found in her room as well as several bottles of prescription medication.
After arriving at the hotel on January 14 while in London for a recording session, Miss O’Riordan opened the mini-bar at 2.10am the following morning and called her mother Eileen at 3am. Miss O’Riordan, whose fame was said to have been a ‘ heavy burden’, was found lifeless a few hours later wearing pyjama bottoms and a long-sleeved top.
Police officers called to the scene made desperate attempts to revive the mother- of-three but she was pronounced dead at 9.16am, Westminster Coroner’s Court was told.
The inquest held on what would have been her 47th birthday heard that the singer had a blood alcohol level of 330mg per 100ml compared to the drinkdrive limit of 80mg.
Miss O’Riordan’s mother, brother PJ and her sister-in-law attended the hearing, joining arms and bowing their heads as the coroner read her verdict.
Dr Shirley Radcliffe recorded Miss O’Riordan’s death as ‘a tragic accident’ with no signs of any suspicious circumstances or a suicide note.
The coroner also said: ‘ She was looking forward to the future with a considerable number of plans.’
After the hearing, her brother said: ‘We are just glad it is over.’
The singer, from Limerick, Ireland, had spent months battling bipolar disorder, a mental illness that caused her to suffer a ‘manic’ episode. The illness was under control at the time of her death and in ‘partial remission’, the inquest heard.
But the singer had recently told doctors her drinking was ‘excessive’ and she continued to struggle with alcoholism-related relapses.
While living in San Francisco in September 2017, the singer began writing an apparent suicide note after drinking a ‘huge’ amount of alcohol and taking prescription medication, the hearing was told.
She fell unconscious and was taken to hospital, where she made a full recovery. Miss O’Riordan had been seeking treatment from an American psychiatrist, Dr Robert Hirschfield, who spoke to her by phone on Boxing Day last year.
In a report of the conversation, he said: ‘She is doing well, not drinking, she was a little sad on Christmas Day... no thoughts of suicide, anxiety modest.’
He advised the singer to continue not drinking alcohol and to carry on taking three types of prescription medication to treat her depressive condition.
A week before her death, Miss O’Riordan saw another psychiatrist in Ireland, Dr Seamus O’Ceallaigh. He said she was in ‘good spirits’ and her bipolar disorder was under control although she admitted her alcohol intake had been ‘excessive’.
The singer was due to record a solo album in New York the week after her death.
She had three children – Taylor, 20, Molly, 17, and Dakota, 12 – with her ex-husband Don Burton, a tour manager.
In a statement after the hearing, the band’s remaining members Fergal Lawler and brothers Noel and Mike Hogan said: ‘Today we continue to struggle to come to terms with what happened. Dolores will live on eternally in her music.’
The Cranberries were one of the top acts of the 1990s, selling more than 40million albums with hits including Linger.