Dolores O’Riordan joins the Voice of Ireland as a judge

DOLORES O’Riordan has revealed that she is to replace Sharon Corr as a judge on hit RTE show The Voice of Ireland, writes Alan Owens.

The Cranberries’ frontwoman was unveiled on Friday’s Late Late Show as a judge alongside Westlife’s Kian Egan, pop star Jamelia and former Blizzards’ frontman Niall ‘Bressie’ Breslin.

The Ballybricken woman, now living in Ireland again after an extended sojourn in Canada, said she was “out to find the best star in the country”.

“It’s great to be back in Ireland and to be taking part in one of Ireland’s most popular TV shows at same time. I know a good voice when I hear one,” she said.

Speaking to Ryan Tubridy, Dolores said of the show, which returns to screens early in 2014 and will see singers battling it out to win a recording contract with Universal, that “what I like about it is the candidates have to be over 18, so they’re all pretty much adults”.

“You’re not actually looking at the person, and before the actual show begins they audition a lot of people throughout Ireland and they select a hundred for the show, so for sure everybody can sing. So it’s really based around voices.

“To me it looks like the world is going that way for young singers, and the future of music is going towards that kind of thing, and this seems to be quite respectful in the fact that it is towards voices,” she added.

Larry Bass, CEO of Screentime ShinAwiL, said: “Having an international artist of Dolores O’Riordan’s calibre is exciting for viewers to watch and contestants to work with.”