BBC Radio 2 presenter Vernon Kay was forced to pause his broadcast during an emotional interview with The Script frontman Danny O'Donoghue for the show's Tracks Of My Years segment. The conversation about former bandmate Mark Sheehan, who died at age 46 in 2023, left Kay visibly tearful.
Danny O'Donoghue Discusses Mark Sheehan's Upbringing
Danny explained that Mark had a difficult start in life. "His father passed when he was 13," Danny said. "He was from a very rough area in Dublin as well. He had a quite a tough upbringing, but to see somebody like that in the studio being able to articulate what that meant to him, for his father to leave, was insane."
Mark drew on his life experiences, particularly the loss of his father, for many of the band's songs. "I was in the band - one of the best lyricists of all time," Danny said. "They teach his lyrics in Berklee [College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts] but both of us never graduated from school. I've got dyslexia."
Emotional Moment on Air
Vernon became emotional after asking Danny if he had "had an open forum conversation about how much you loved him" when Mark was diagnosed with an illness before his death. Danny admitted, "Yeah. It wasn't as long as you would have liked it to be, because it was quite a short period of time between me finding out and him passing, but we did."
He added, "I look back on it and go, even if we didn't have that conversation, I knew. I've known him since I was 13-years-old, do you know what I mean?"
Vernon welled up and confessed, "It's got me, that." He tried to continue but his voice trembled. "Give me a minute," the BBC host said, wiping away a tear. Danny comforted him, saying "oh, dude." Vernon explained, "I just think that, when you have that relationship with a friend, it's special."
Vernon Kay Explains His Reaction
After the interview, Vernon told BBC Radio 2 listeners: "The reason I broke down is because I've got great mates, do you know? I've got fab mates, and I can't imagine going through what Danny went through with Mark."
Mark and Danny first worked together in Mytown, a boy band put together by Irish music mogul Louis Walsh, but the group folded after one album. Danny reflected: "We released a song, did mediocre, released the album, didn't go too well, and then dropped by the label." He added, "For every hundred bands signed, there's only one that really makes it. But we were probably the 99th one that didn't make it at all."
Undeterred, the two friends went on to form The Script. Eight years later, their debut album emerged with positive response, and their first single 'We Cry' received significant airplay. Every Script album has topped the Irish charts and made the UK Top 3.
Danny O'Donoghue's Struggle After Loss
Danny admitted he nearly went "off the rails" and turned to heavy drinking and smoking to cope. He told People magazine: "I'm going through a really, really tough time – I think I'm handling it in the best way I possibly can." He added, "Guys are so s*** at talking about how they f***ing feel. All I'm here doing is trying to just show people 'Look, if you let it out, it's a lot better. If you let it out, great things can happen'."
Danny pointed out that turning to drink is a mistake: "Actually, the worst thing you can do is go and drink alcohol, because what you're inevitably doing is kicking those issues down the road. It's b****y tough, man." He added, "I came back after I spent pretty much most of Christmas just drinking my a** off, trying to forget stuff. I came back on the 27th of December and I just said, 'That's it.' So I quit alcohol, cigarettes, caffeine even. You can imagine all of those on the one day. I started going to church every day, and then I work out three times a week."
