Dolores O'Riordan

“My parents were in the local church choir, and I used to go along and sing and play the organ at all the weddings and christenings.”

“A lot of these songs just came from day-to-day experiences. And it was a very natural, kind of organic process.”

“Everyone at school knew I wanted to be a singer. I'd always be banging on the piano playing my new song. The teacher would gather us round, and the whole class would listen.”

“I am just trying to live for my kids. It is all about my kids now. I love them endlessly.”

“I think there's a difference between somebody who grows up in Paris or London and goes to Los Angeles. But if you grow up in the green fields, and you rarely go into the city, you're so overprotected that when you do go to L.A., it's almost a bigger slap in the head.”

“I didn't get a lot of attention from my dad when I was young. That's a big part of it for girls. Because your dad is the first love of your life. If he doesn't put you on his lap and give you a pet, you do end up not really liking yourself that much.”

“I guess all bands get to that point where they run out of inspiration and just get bored with the chemistry.”

“I guess the way to keep a grip on reality is just to take breaks in between albums like most normal bands do. Go home and be a person and hang out with your friends. Do separate things and get back to earth and write songs and go out there again.”

“Each gig is brilliant and fun. When it becomes a routine, we'll take a break. There's no point in doing it if you don't enjoy it.”

“I missed a lot of family weddings and funerals because we were out on the road and had these big gigs, and you can't pull out of these gigs at the last minute because too many people are counting on it. It got to the point where I was consumed with that.”

“When The Cranberries got really big in Ireland, it became difficult for me to be there with all the photographers and paparazzi.”

“What's amazing is - I actually have problems getting it into my head - Canada is so big, right? And Ireland's small, you know; you drive from coast to coast in three hours.”

“It was great about the sizes of the audiences we were getting in America, but sometimes you feel like telling some of the men that you're not on stage to have your body looked at.”

“I've come to the conclusion that life is for the taking and just too short to dwell on the negative.”

“My kids mean more to me than anything I thought was important when I was younger.”

“It's a great gig, really: getting on stage, playing the guitar, singing. For a living, it's super.”

“I look like that in the morning: my hair's all greasy - it's not, 'Hey, look at the babe of the band!' I hate that kind of thing, the way women are always pushed forward as beauties... it's very easy: you can make the ugliest pig look lovely in a photograph.”

“I'm an icon. I'm the Queen of Limerick.”

“I thought the best thing to do to bring me back to reality would be to have a child, and by the time I had my first, Taylor, when I was 25, we'd sold 35 million records as a band, and I'd had enough; I knew my sanity was more important than success.”

“To me, life is a bit of everything. I have the band, I have my kids. Life is a big picture. It's not just your career.”