Mark Sheehan, guitarist for Irish rock band The Script, dies at 46

Ireland’s president has led tributes to Mark Sheehan, guitarist with Irish rock band The Script, after his death at the age of 46.

Formed in Dublin in 2001 by Sheehan, singer Danny O’Donoghue and drummer Glen Power, The Script topped U.K. and Irish charts with its self-titled debut album in 2008. It included the hits “We Cry,” “Breakeven” and “The Man Who Can’t Be Moved,” which reached No. 1 in five countries.

The band’s pop-inflected rock sound made it one of Ireland’s biggest bands in the 2010s. The Script went on to have six Top 10 albums in the U.K. and one top three album in the U.S.

Irish President Michael D. Higgins praised the band’s “originality and excellence” and sent condolences to Sheehan’s family.

“Through their music, Mark and The Script have played an outstanding part in continuing and promoting this proud tradition of Irish musical success across the world,” Higgins said.

Sheehan is survived by his wife, Rina Sheehan, and their three children.

Since their debut in 2008, Irish rock band The Script has gone through a lot of change, evolving from a folk rock band you would hear in a pub to a power pop arena band.

But their seventh album Satellites, released Friday, follows their reckoning with the biggest change they have seen yet: the loss of their friend, founding member Mark Sheehan.

Sheehan, who had served as the band’s lead guitarist since their formation in 2001, died in 2023 from a brief illness at the age of 46.

Although the Dublin-based band has always excelled at conjuring feelings of unrequited love, longing for better days, heartbreak, or even grief, Satellites sees them tackle these subjects on a far more personal and serious level.

The lyrics of “At Your Feet” directly address Sheehan’s death, with the chorus acknowledging the impact he had on frontman Danny O’Donoghue, who was his best friend since childhood, and implies that O’Donoghue feels lost without him.

Even from just the first verse, it reads like a eulogy being given at a funeral. The song’s instrumentation is kept pretty simple to allow the lyrics to shine through, with Glen Power’s impactful drumming and O’Donoghue’s wistful singing and piano playing serving as its backbone.

“Home is Where the Hurt Is” reopens old wounds stemming from family trauma and reflects on how they can continue to impact those affected, even if they go unnoticed at first. This theme of facing the past is driven home further by a reference to early Script hit “The Man Who Can’t Be Moved” in the first verse, saying that man is still just a child who has yet to move past their youth.

While “Gone” is given more of an anthemic edge to its composition by a memorable guitar riff and harmonies, the bittersweet lyrics about how O’Donoghue continues to carry Sheehan’s spirit with him on stage contrast it well.