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Vernon Kay broke down in tears as The Script frontman Danny O'Donoghue reflected on his bandmate Mark Sheehan's death.

The musician died in hospital aged 46 back in April 2023 following a brief illness, leaving his bandmates 'utterly devastated'.

Danny, 45, appeared on Vernon's Radio 2 show on Wednesday to talk about ten songs from the soundtrack of his life and paid tribute to Mark as he spoke about the poignance of singing If You Could See Me Now.

The singer 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.

Vernon Kay broke down in tears as The Script frontman Danny O'Donoghue reflected on his bandmate Mark Sheehan's death

'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.'

An emotional Vernon wiped tears away from his eyes and said: 'It’s got me that… Give me a minute.'

Danny comforted the presenter as he continued: '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?'

Mark and lead singer Danny had been best friends from the age of 12 and were previously members of a band called Mytown, which was formed in 1996.

Danny, 45, appeared on Vernon's Radio 2 show on Wednesday to talk about 10 songs from the soundtrack of his life and paid tribute to Mark

The musician died in hospital aged 46 back in April 2023 following a brief illness, leaving his bandmates 'utterly devastated' (pictured in 2011)

The Script were formed in Dublin in 2001, with Mark on guitar, Glen Power on drums and Danny singing.

They went on to sell 20M records worldwide including The Man Who Can't be Moved, For The First Time, We Cry and Hall of Fame.

Following his passing, Mark left his £9.4million fortune to his family.

Danny previously opened up about turning to 'drinking, smoking... everything' after the death of his bandmate Mark.

Danny revealed that he went 'off the rails' after Mark died, turning to drink and cigarettes as he experienced a mental block.

But after a heavy drinking session in his native Ireland over Christmas 2023, the singer decided to cut out alcohol and 'face the grief stone cold sober'.

Danny said: 'I went off the rails after Mark passed away like everybody does. I was out drinking, smoking, everything and I went through a mental block.

He later said: 'I got back from a big drinking session over Christmas in Ireland and I just said "Enough is enough." I want to face the grief stone cold sober because if you don't, you're only kicking it down the street.

'January was a big one for me - I gave up drinking, smoking, caffeine, all the good stuff… I was only going to do it through January but here we are in May now and I feel better than ever.

'I feel like I'm starting to come out from the black cloud a little bit now, hence the new music.'