Irish boyband star Nicky Byrne has been left devastated by the loss of his father.

The Westlife singer’s dad, Nicky Sr., died suddenly on Tuesday, and Byrne, who was in London at the time, has now flown back to his native Ireland to be with his family.

The cause of death is not yet known but Byrne’s Irish bandmates, Kian Egan, Shane Filan and Mark Feehily, have all offered their support.

A Westlife spokesman said: “The boys in the band’s main priority is looking after Nicky at this tragic time.”

Last December, Byrne, who has two-year-old twin sons, Rocco and Jay, with wife Georgina, threw a lavish bash at a top Dublin hotel for his father’s 60th birthday and presented Nicky Sr. with a $26,000 Harley Davidson motorcycle as a present.

The news comes just weeks after the singer’s friend, fellow Irish singer and Boyzone star Stephen Gately, died aged 33 from an acute pulmonary edema, a build-up of fluid in the lungs, at his holiday home in Majorca, Spain.