Names and faces
The Cranberries singer Dolores O’Riordan accidentally drowned in a bathtub after drinking, a coroner’s inquest concluded Thursday. Coroner Shirley Radcliffe said that O’Riordan died from drowning because of alcohol intoxication. “There’s no evidence that this was anything other than an accident,” she said. A police officer testified in the inquest at Westminster Coroner’s
Court that a pajama-clad O’Riordan was found submerged in her bathtub at a London hotel on the morning of Jan. 15. The 46-year-old singer didn’t leave a note and there was no evidence of self-harm. Five miniature alcohol bottles and a bottle of Champagne were found in the room, and toxicology tests revealed a blood alcohol level four times the legal limit for driving. “Therapeutic” amounts of prescription medication were also found, the inquest was told. Inquests are held in Britain to determine the facts in sudden, violent or unexplained deaths. The Cranberries formed in the Irish city of Limerick at the end of the 1980s and had international hits in the ’90s with songs including “Dream,” “Linger” and “Zombie.” O’Riordan had suffered physical and mental-health problems over the years. The Cranberries cut short a world tour in 2017 because of the singer’s back problems. She had also spoken in interviews about being sexually abused as a child, her battles with depression and a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. At the time of her death she was in London for a recording session, and was planning a tour. The other members of The Cranberries said in a statement Thursday that they “continue to struggle to come to terms with what happened,” adding “Dolores will live on eternally in her music.”
m Country singer and The Voice star Blake Shelton has been appointed to the board of a foundation that will raise money for wildlife conservation in his home state of Oklahoma. Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation spokesman Micah Holmes said Shelton was appointed Tuesday to the newly formed board of the Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation Foundation. The foundation will raise money on behalf of the conservation department. The state agency doesn’t receive appropriated money from the Legislature and operates off revenue from hunting and fishing licenses and federal excise taxes on hunting and fishing equipment. Holmes said the foundation was formed this year and is awaiting federal approval of nonprofit status. Holmes said it’s important for people to see hunting and fishing as mainstream and that Shelton’s status will help that mission.