CELEBRITY
Pogues Frontman Shane MacGowan Dead At 65
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Irish singer-songwriter Shane MacGowan, best known as the frontman for Celtic punk band The Pogues, has died at the age of 65.
Last week, MacGowan was released from St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin where he had been in intensive care after being diagnosed with encephalitis. MacGowan’s wife Victoria Mary Clarke shared the news of his death in an Instagram post on Thursday.
I dont know how to say this so I am just going to say it, Clarke wrote. Shane…has gone to be with Jesus and Mary and his beautiful mother Therese.
Clarke and MacGowan married in 2018, but had been together for nearly 40 years.
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, she wrote.
Theres 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, she wrote. Thank you thank you thank you thank you for your presence in this world you made it so very bright and you gave so much joy to so many people with your heart and soul and your music. 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.
MacGowan has been associated with the Christmas season ever since The Pogues’ 1987 hit, Fairytale Of New York.
Other hits from The Pogues included Dirty Old Town, A Pair of Brown Eyes, and A Rainy Night in Soho.
Although he was born in Kent, England, he spent much of his youth with his mother’s family in Ireland, and wrote songs on Irish history and The Troubles. Known for hard partying and longtime drug use, MacGowan was kicked out of The Pogues in 1991. The band disbanded a few years later, but got back together in 2001, before finally disbanding again in 2015.
MacGowan is survived by his wife, his sister Siobhan, and his father Maurice.
TMX contributed to this article.
