Dolores O'Riordan, lead singer of Irish rock band The Cranberries, was scheduled to record new material today (16 January), less than 24 hours after her sudden death was announced.

The Linger singer was found dead in her hotel room in London's Hilton Park Lane Hotel on Monday morning. Her death is being treated as "unexplained" by the Metropolitan Police, pending a postmortem. She was 46.

It has emerged that O'Riordan left a music producer a voicemail at midnight the night before her death in which she discussed a studio session set for today.

O'Riordan was set to record with metal band Bad Wolves after discovering and falling in love with a cover version the band had recorded of Cranberries classic Zombie.

The message was left for Dan Waite, international managing director of record company Eleven Seven Music, who told the Mirror that the singer was "full of life" in the message.

"The news that my friend Dolores has passed deeply shocked me," he said.

"I worked with the Cranberries at Universal Records and have kept in touch ever since. Dolores left me a voice message just after midnight last night stating how much she loved Bad Wolves' version of Zombie.

"She was looking forward to seeing me in the studio and recording vocals. She sounded full of life, was joking and excited to see me and my wife this week. The news of her passing is devastating and my thoughts are with Don her ex-husband, her children and her mother."

The rawness and honesty [Dolores] projected on stage and in her recordings was something to which all bands should aspire to, regardless of genre
- Tommy Vext

Surviving Cranberries members Noel Hogan, Mike Hogan and Fergal Lawler said: "We are devastated on the passing of our friend Dolores. 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."

Bad Wolves singer Tommy Vext shared a message on Facebook, saying: "We are shocked and saddened at the news of Dolores's passing, mere hours before she was to record vocals on our upcoming version of Zombie.

"We have always had deep respect for her as an artist and a vocalist and she was never afraid to bare her soul in her music and lyrics. Zombie is an incredibly personal song and although we are a hard rock band, we always felt the rawness and honesty she projected on stage and in her recordings was something to which all bands should aspire to, regardless of genre.

"When we heard she liked our version and wanted to sing on it, it was the greatest compliment a new band, or any band for that matter, could have received. Our hearts are broken that we were not able to see this collaboration through and our deepest condolences go out to her family, friends, loved ones and fans in Ireland and around the globe."

Vext added that he and the rest of band hoped they could "make her proud" by releasing the cover version.

The Cranberries were formed in 1989, and were best known for hit singles Linger, Zombie, Ode To My Family and Dreams. They released an acoustic album in 2017 and had planned to tour it, but cancelled due to health reasons relating to O'Riodran.

The future of the band is uncertain at this point.