The Script
Aug 15, 2011
Danny O'Donoghue and Mark Sheehan met in a club in The Liberties area of Dublin, Ireland near the Guinness brewery, gravitating to each other through a shared liking of music, and in particular a love of American black music. Mark and Danny were formerly part of a band that had formed in 1996 called mytown. Striking up a songwriting and production partnership, O'Donoghue and Sheehan's talent was recognized early, and, to their astonishment, they found themselves invited to Canada to collaborate with some of their production heroes, including such legends of modern R&B as Dallas Austin, Montell Jordan and Teddy Riley. They were based in the US for many years, but moved back to Dublin where they recruited Glen (MAX) Power for their new band The Script. He had been playing sessions from the age of fifteen, using the money to work on a solo project in his home. But that went on hold when his collaboration with Mark and Danny produced three songs in one week. The band signed to Phonogenic in 2005, and released an EP on Last.FM.
Danny and Mark started making demos for other artists, but when they met drummer Glen Power, the objective changed. The pair had never heard Power play, but they made a connection that motivated Sheehan to invite Glen on a working holiday to Los Angeles. In one week, the trio produced three songs. In the beginning years of the band, Mark Sheehan's mother fell terminally ill; causing a lot of stress on the band and members, but it also had a positive effect on Sheehan's writing. With such strong emotional tension, the songwriter found new lyrics every day. Even with such trying moments in their early years, the band was able to rise out of it, albeit with somewhat bleak lyrics in several songs, as commented by Danny when referencing "We Cry": "There is not a lot of hope in the song, cause not everybody's life is full of hope. There's not always roses at the end"
The Script released their debut single "We Cry" in April 2008. "We Cry" received "Single of the Day" on RTé 2FM, Today FM and by Jo Whiley on BBC Radio 1, where many radio presenters heavily supported the band. The single peaked at number 15 on the UK Singles Chart, giving the band their first top 20 single. The track also performed well on the Irish Singles Chart, peaking at number 9 and giving the band their first top ten single in their home country.
Their second single, "The Man Who Can't Be Moved", was released in September 2008 and reached number 2 in Ireland, Denmark, and the UK. The band released their debut album, The Script, in August 2008. Following the success of "The Man Who Can't Be Moved", the album entered the UK Albums Chart at number one with sales of 20,240 copies where it stayed for eleven weeks. The album spent three weeks in the top ten and was the eighteenth best selling album in the UK of 2008. The album also entered the Irish Albums Chart at number one, holding the top spot for five weeks. The Irish office of Sony BMG music presented the group with their first multi-platinum disc for over 600,000 sales of their debut album, The Script.
The third single, "Breakeven", was released in Ireland in November 2008 and in the UK in December 2008 and was an instant success on the Irish Singles Chart. After entering the chart at number forty, it spent one week before entering the top ten at number ten giving the Script their third top ten single in Russia. The single has, to date, spent 4 weeks on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number 21. The band's fourth single "Talk You Down" was released in March 2009.
On April 16th 2010, their first U.S. single "Breakeven" was certified Platinum by the RIAA, selling over one million copies in the U.S. and has since peaked at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the spring of 2010. The band performed a headline tour in the United States that kicked off in San Diego in October 2010 at the House of Blues and ended in November 2010 at the House of Blues in Boston, Massachusetts.
The Script announced a new album and single on their website on July 19th 2010. The first single from album Science & Faith, "For the First Time", was released in the UK in August and the album followed in September. In the US, "For the First Time" was released on iTunes in November 2010, with "Science & Faith" was released in January 2011 "For the First Time" has entered the UK charts at #5 and moved up to #4 the following week and entered the Irish charts at #1. Science & Faith entered the Irish Album Chart and the UK album chart at #1.
Their newly released single "Nothing" is impacting radio now and currently number 17 on the Billboard US Adult Pop Songs.
