Another shocking blow to the music industry comes with the sudden death of 46-year-old Dolores O'Riordan, the lead vocalist of Irish alternative rock band The Cranberries. There are no details yet on the cause of death though it is known she has struggled with her health for many years. 

The Cranberries performing in Las VegasThe Cranberries performing in Las Vegas

The Limerick-born singer was in London at the time of her death, making a brief stopover so she could grab some studio time according to her publicist. However, police were called to her Park Lane hotel yesterday morning (January 15th 2018) where they pronounced the singer dead at the scene.

'The lead singer with the Irish band The Cranberries was in London for a short recording session', her publicist said in a statement. 'No further details are available at this time. Family members are devastated to hear the news and have requested privacy at this very difficult time.'

Last year was the first time Dolores opened up about her struggles with bipolar disorder, with which she had been diagnosed back in 2015. She revealed that she was managing her mental illness with medication, though that didn't stop her plummeting into deep depression at times.

'There are two ends of the spectrum - you can get extremely depressed and dark and lose interest in the things you love to do, then you can get super manic', she told the Metro in May. 'I was at the hypomanic side of the spectrum on and off for a long period but generally you can only last at that end for around three months before you hit rock bottom and go down into depression. When you're manic you don't sleep and get very paranoid.'

Around that time the band were also forced to cancel a handful of European tour dates over Dolores' health, though it was later claimed that that was down to 'medical reasons associated with a back problem'. 

By Christmas, however, she seemed to be back on her feet and loving getting back into performing. 'Hi all, Dolores here. Feeling good!' She told her Facebook followers. 'I did my first bit of gigging in months at the weekend, performed a few songs at the Billboard annual staff holiday party in New York with the house band. Really enjoyed it!'

The rest of The Cranberries; guitarist Noel Hogan, drummer Fergal Lawler and bassist Mike Hogan; expressed their sadness at the loss of their friend via Twitter. 'We are devastated on the passing of our friend Dolores', they wrote. 'She was an extraordinary talent and we feel very privileged to have been part of her life from 1989 when we started the Cranberries. The world has lost a true artist today.'

More: Watch the video for The Cranberries' hit song 'Zombie'

Dolores O'Riordan is survived by her three children with ex-husband Don Burton: Taylor Baxter, Molly Leigh and Dakota Rain.