Family and friends of The Script’s Mark Sheehan bid final farewell at private Dublin funeral

The Sunday World can reveal a beautiful vigil and Month’s Mind service was held for the musician in St James’s Catholic Church on James Street last Saturday.

The service happened just over four weeks after the 46-year-old’s death in hospital after a short illness.

For the first time we can also disclose that Mark died in England, and he was cremated in London.

The star owned property in the English capital as well as America, where his Texan-born wife Rina and their three young children were primarily based.

“It was a very private ceremony which started at 3.30pm last Saturday,” a source tells us.

“Mark grew up on James ‘s Street and most of his family and many of his friends are from that area of the Liberties, with a good number of them attending the service.”

News of Mark’s death first emerged on April 14, with devastated fellow bandmates Danny O’Donoghue and Glen Power paying tribute to him at the time.

The group were formed in Dublin in 2001 and have sold over 20 million albums, scoring huge hits with had huge hits with the likes of The Man Who Can’t be Moved, For The First Time, We Cry and Hall of Fame.

Mark spent a lot of his time in America with his wife Rina, whom he married when he was aged 25.

He missed nearly a year of gigs in 2021 and early 2022 to be close to his family before reuniting last summer for a string of concerts, including ones at SSE Belfast on May 14 and 15, the 3 Arena in Dublin on Jun4 14, 15 and 16 as well as an outdoor concert in Musgrave Park in Cork on June 19.

“His children needed a father and his wife needed a husband,” Danny told the Sunday Worldlast May.

“He’s been the engine of The Script for such a long time, [I told him] that ‘if you want to take a bit of time out for your family you are more than welcome to, and I insist on you going and doing it’.

“He took a little bit of time off. You get refreshed, then you come back with a new zest for life. And I believe it was the best thing that could have happened for all of us.”

The band were due to support Pink! on her upcoming European tour, starting in Bolton on June 7 and were also due to support Take That in Hyde Park in London next month.

Mark’s wife Rina was the love of his life.

“Rina is from Texas – we met on the road,” he once said. “I was producing and working in different studios and she was a studio session singer and backing singer. And we just kind of clicked in the usual way you do.”

The couple had their first child, a son Cameron, 18 years ago, and have two other young children, Avery, and Lil.

Mark and singer Danny have been friends since their mid-teens and first cut their teeth in mid-90s pop group My Town.

After the demise of the band the two lads headed to Los Angeles to learn production, recording and the background to the music business.

They were joined by fellow Dubliner Glen Power on drums and The Script were born in 2001 and moved to London, releasing their eponymous debut album in 2008 on Sony records.

Mark’s parents Gerard and Rachel died when he was relatively young.

“My dad passed away when I was 14 and my mum died in 2006,” he said several years ago.

“We signed our record deal in America then moved home to record the album because she had a stroke.

“She was in hospital for 10 months and that is what brought me back to Dublin.

The lads came back with me. I had a small studio, more like a shed, at the back of the James Street house where I grew up.

“It was right next to the hospital so I was able to go in and do nightshifts with my mum, write lyrics and then come home and write and record more.

“She heard some songs but she didn’t get to hear everything. She felt if you were doing a show that people came to watch, then that was a success.

“She taught me not to gauge my success on money.

“I know you have to keep the lights on but in general we do everything because of passion and our love for music.

“So in her eyes I was always successful because I was following my dreams.”

The Script were using a session guitarist on their world tour during Mark’s absence.

Their frontman Danny became a huge star in the UK, thanks to becoming a judge on The Voice.