Danny O'Donoghue reduces Vernon Kay to tears in radio interview
The Script star Danny O'Donoghue reduced radio DJ Vernon Kay to tears on Wednesday (29.07.26) after talking about his bandmate Mark Sheehan's tragic death.
The Script star Danny O'Donoghue reduced radio DJ Vernon Kay to tears on Wednesday (29.07.26) after talking about his bandmate Mark Sheehan's tragic death.
The 45-year-old frontman was on Vernon’s Radio 2 show to take part in Tracks of My Years, which sees artists name 10 tracks that have been influential on them growing up.
Danny was talking about performing If You Could See Me Now while reflecting on Mark, who died in hospital aged 46 after battling a brief illness in April 2023.
He said: “Mark, God rest his soul. His father passed when he was 13 and he's 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 to leave was insane.
“It’s one of the best moments I've ever had in the studio because look, I know it might sound a bit big-headed, and people go ‘you're mad’ but I was in the band with one of the best lyricists of all time.”
“They teach his lyrics in Berkeley but both of us never graduated from school. I've got dyslexia. Do you know what I mean? It's like what's going on?
“It’s like he wrote that about his dad and now I'm singing that about him on stage. It's like there's generations of pain and truth and hurt.”
Vernon failed to hide his emotions as his voice cracked and he was seen wiping his eyes, as he told Danny: “It’s got me that… Give me a minute.”
Danny then offered Vernon some words of comfort, as he said: I find it difficult talking about it. I find it the whole way around.
“But the outpouring of what other people get out of it as well means that I find his talent so unique and so beautiful that how dare I not honour his memory and I could retire the song and never sing it again. But how dare I not do that?'
Danny added in the interview that he has tried to give his life something of a health kick overhaul in recent weeks, giving up drinking, coffee, and smoking from January.
While he was “one going to do it through January”, he kept it going and now he’s months down the road and feeling “better than ever”.
