Shane MacGowan Dies: Pogues Frontman, ‘Fairytale Of New York’ Singer Was 65
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Shane MacGowan, The Pogues founder and singer-songwriter who in the 1980s melded Irish musical traditions with the ferocious snarl of punk, died today. He was 65.
His death was announced by his wife Victoria Mary Clarke on Instagram, saying: “Shane will always be the light that I hold before me and the measure of my dreams and the love of my life.” A cause of death was not disclosed, but MacGowan had suffered from health issues during the past few years and reportedly was released from hospital last week after spending time in intensive care.
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A family statement indicates the singer died peacefully at his home surrounded by famiiy.
“There’s no way to describe the loss that I am feeling and the longing for just one more of his smiles that lit up my world,” added Clarke. “You will live in my heart forever. Rave on in the garden all wet with rain that you loved so much.”
Read the full posts below.
The statement from MacGowan’s family posted on the Pogue’s Instagram page says the singer — whose songs included Christmas classic “Fairytale of New York” with Kirsty MacColl — “died peacefully at 3 a.m.” with his wife and family by his side. Prayers and last rites were read, “which gave comfort to the family.”
Major Pogues hits included “If I Should Fall From Grace with God” and “Dirty Old Town.”
Born on Christmas Day 1957 in Kent, he founded Anglo-Irish Celtic punk band The Pogues in 1982, which released seven albums and achieved much mainstream success in the UK and around Europe before breaking up in the mid-1990s. The Pogues re-formed in late 2001 and played regularly across the UK and Ireland and on the U.S. East Coast, until dissolving again in 2014.
In 1988, MacGowan’s Pogues and singer MacColl released “Fairytale of New York,” which went on to be a huge hit in the UK and is still played at Christmas there every year. Opening with the line, “It was Christmas Eee, babe, in the drunk tank,” the song has been voted best Christmas classic of all time by numerous polls. MacColl died in 2000 following a freak boating accident.
The band had only minor chart success in the U.S., led by its 1988 album If I Should Fall From Grace with God, which features “Fairytale of New York.” The Pogues’ sophomore disc, 1986’s Rum Sodomy & The Lash, failed to chart stateside but made Rolling Stone‘s list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The group had three Top 20 hits on Billboard’s Modern Rock chart from 1989-93: “Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah,” “The Sunny Side of the Street” and “Tuesday Morning.”
The singer — who was known for wild, boozy live shows — left the Pogues in 1991 and started a new band. Shane MacGowan and the Popes released a couple of albums before the frontman returned to the Pogues.
In 2018, MacGowan was honored with a lifetime achievement award at a 60th birthday party in Dublin’s National Concert Hall.
Johnny Depp was subsequently a producer on a documentary about the singer’s life, Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan, which was released in 2020 via Magnolia Pictures. The pair had performed together in the past and MacGowan called Depp a “wonderful friend” on his birthday last year.
Erik Pedersen contributed to this report.
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