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RIP
Pogues frontman and songwriter Shane MacGowan has died aged 65
The influential musician, songwriter and singer was best known as the lead singer of the Pogues.
SHANE MACGOWAN HAS died aged 65.
The hugely influential musician, songwriter and singer was best known as the lead singer and songwriter of The Pogues.
Writing on Instagram his wife, Victoria Mary Clarke, said Shane “has gone to be with Jesus and Mary and his beautiful mother Therese”.
“I am blessed beyond words to have met him and to have loved him and to have been so endlessly and unconditionally loved by him and to have had so many years of life and love and joy and fun and laughter and so many adventures.
Her post concluded: “You will live in my heart forever. Rave on in the garden all wet with rain that you loved so much.
You meant the world to me.
The Pogues issued a statement on X, formerly Twitter, confirming their former singer died at 3am this morning with his wife and family by his side.
“Prayers and the last rites were read which gave comfort to his family,” the statement added.
“He is survived by his wife Victoria, his sister Siobhan and his father, Maurice, family and a large circle of friends.
Further details will be announced shortly but the family ask for privacy at this very sad time.
Hugely influential
MacGowan was born in Kent, England in December 1957, to Irish parents.
He lived briefly in Tipperary as a young child before the family moved back to England when he was six.
MacGowan was heavily influenced by bands like The Clash and others in the emerging British punk scene of the 1970s, as well as by his Irish heritage.
He drew strongly on both these influences to form the Celtic-styled punk band The Pogues in 1982.
Their first album in 1984 – Red Roses for Me – announced the band’s arrival, but it was the follow up album – 1985′s Rum, Sodomy & the Lash – that catapulted the group to fame.
The band became well-known for their drunken, raucous performances and unique style, with MacGowan leading the group as frontman.
Although infamous for their wild live shows, MacGowan also brought a sombre, melodic songwriting style with many of the band’s tunes – like A Rainy Night in Soho, Fairytale of New York, and A Pair of Brown Eyes – drawing heavily on the Irish folk tradition.
The group toured widely in Ireland, but were also hugely popular abroad with an Irish diaspora in England and the United States where their wistful and romantic songs about Ireland found a wide audience.
Break up
MacGowan battled with substance abuse issues his whole life, and drug and alcohol addiction ultimately led to him being kicked out of the band in 1991.
He formed other groups, but none would have the long lasting popularity of the Pogues.
The band reformed in the 2000s for irregular tours, before they played their last gig in 2014.
MacGowan suffered from a wide range of health issues in his later life, and was in a wheelchair for his final years.
In November of 2018, he married his long-term partner Victoria Mary Clarke after the pair were engaged for 11 years.
He was visited by numerous friends and fellow musicians during a recent spell in hospital including former Pogues bandmates Spider Stacy and Terry Woods and singers Damien Dempsey, Daniel O’Donnell and Imelda May.
MacGowan, who was being treated in St Vincents after being diagnosed with encephalitis last year, was discharged from hospital last week, his wife confirmed at the time on Twitter.
Paying tribute to the singer and songwriter this afternoon President Michael D Higgins said he had learned of MacGowans death “with great sadness”.
“Shane will be remembered as one of music’s greatest lyricists. So many of his songs would be perfectly crafted poems, if that would not have deprived us of the opportunity to hear him sing them.
“The genius of Shane’s contribution includes the fact that his songs capture within them, as Shane would put it, the measure of our dreams – of so many worlds, and particularly those of love, of the emigrant experience and of facing the challenges of that experience with authenticity and courage, and of living and seeing the sides of life that so many turn away from.
“His words have connected Irish people all over the globe to their culture and history, encompassing so many human emotions in the most poetic of ways.
“Shane’s talent was nurtured from a young age by his mother Therese, herself an award winning folk singer in her own right. Therese, who lost her life in such tragic circumstances on New Year’s Day 2017, inspired in Shane the love of Irish music and traditions which resulted in the wonderful music and lyrics which have been a source of such joy for so many people.
“Born on Christmas Day, there was perhaps some form of destiny which led Shane to writing ‘Fairytale of New York’, the timeless quality of which will surely mean that it will be listened to every Christmas for the next century or more.
“Likewise songs like ‘Rainy Night in Soho’, ‘A Pair of Brown Eyes’, ‘If I Should Fall from Grace with God’ and so many others will live on far into the years and decades to come.
“I think too of ‘Haunted’, and the particular poignancy that both Shane and Sinéad O’Connor have left us in such quick succession.
“It was a great honour for me, as President of Ireland, to present Shane with a lifetime achievement award in the National Concert Hall in January 2018 as we marked his 60th birthday. A richly deserved honour.
“On behalf of Sabina and I, may I extend my deepest condolences to Shane’s wife Victoria, his sister Siobhán, his father Maurice, his bandmates in The Pogues and other projects, and to all his many friends and family.”
Tributes were also paid in the Dáil this afternoon.
