Irish pop-rock band The Script has confirmed the death of guitarist and songwriter Mark Sheehan at age 46.
“Much loved husband, father, brother, bandmate and friend Mark Sheehan passed away on Saturday in hospital after a brief illness,” the band said in a statement on Twitter.
“The family and group ask fans to respect their privacy at this tragic time.”
No further details were provided.
Sheehan founded The Script in 2001 with drummer Glen Power and lead singer Danny O’Donoghue.
The band’s eponymous 2008 debut album was an instant success, peaking at number one in Ireland and the UK and selling more than 1.2 million copies. It featured hits that included We Cry, Breakeven, and The Man Who Can’t Be Moved.
The album marked the beginning of the band’s highly successful musical career.
Between 2010 and 2019, the band released five more albums. In 2021, a Greatest Hits record, Tales from the Script, was produced in preparation for their 2022 world tour.
The Script is the first band ever to have all of their albums reach No.1 in the Irish Charts, while all but one reached the top spot in the UK charts.
The band was scheduled to support American pop-star P!nk on British and European stops of her Summer Carnival tour.
Ireland’s president Michael D. Higgins released a statement expressing his shock at Sheehan’s untimely passing. “It was a mark of the originality and excellence that Mark and his bandmates in The Script sought that they saw such success across the world,” he said. “A truly remarkable achievement.”
“While Mark will be missed by so many, it is his family who will of course experience the greatest loss. May I extend my deepest sympathies to Mark’s wife Rina, to his children Cameron, Avery, Lil and Bria, to his bandmates in The Script, and to all his family and friends,” the Irish president added.
Many music industry figures have come out to pay their respects to Sheehan and the impact he and The Script had on the music scene.
“Today we lost another young legend of music in Mark Sheehan of The Script,” said Mikey Graham, former member of Boyzone, in a statement on Twitter. “I can and do understand the pain Glen & Danny are feeling right now and also their families,” Graham added, who himself lost a bandmate to an undiagnosed heart condition in 2009.
“Devastating news,” former Westlife singer Brian McFadden wrote on Twitter. “Mark was one of the good guys!”
In another Twitter message, OneRepublic vocalist Ryan Tedder said Sheehan was “one of the nicest, most genuine people I’ve ever had the pleasure of touring with and getting to know.”
Sheehan was born on 29 October 1976 in south inner city Dublin in Ireland, and was married to Rina Sheehan, a Texan session singer with whom he had three children.
Sheehan was passionate about music from a young age. Before forming The Script, he was a member of the band Mytown.