Shane MacGowan, London-Irish frontman of The Pogues, has died aged 65
- The musician had been hospitalised in Dublin for several months after being diagnosed with viral encephalitis in late 2022
- The Pogues’ most famous song, ‘Fairytale of New York’ is a bittersweet Christmas classic
Shane Macgowan, the singer-songwriter and frontman of “Celtic Punk” band The Pogues, best known for the Christmas ballad “Fairytale of New York,” died on Thursday, his family said. He was 65.
“It is with the deepest sorrow and heaviest of hearts that we announce the passing of our most beautiful, darling and dearly beloved Shane Macgowan,” his wife Victoria Clarke, his sister Siobhan and father Maurice said in a statement.
The singer died peacefully with his family by his side, the statement added.
“Shane, who will always be the light that I hold before me and the measure of my dreams and the love of my life … and the start and end of everything that I hold dear, has gone to be with Jesus and Mary and his beautiful mother Therese,” his wife wrote on Instagram.
The musician had been hospitalised in Dublin for several months after being diagnosed with viral encephalitis in late 2022. He was discharged last week, ahead of his coming birthday on Christmas Day.
The Pogues fused Irish traditional music and rock’n’roll into a unique, intoxicating blend, though MacGowan became as famous for his sozzled, slurred performances as for his powerful songwriting.