2023-11-30 14:39:52
Shane MacGowan was 65 years old.
Pogues singer Shane MacGowan has died at age 65 after a long illness. His wife, journalist Victoria Mary Clarke announced it on Instagram: “Shane […] left to be with Jesus and Mary”
The group, which found success in the 1980s, was particularly known for its songs recounting the lives of the Irish and the Irish diaspora. “Shane will be remembered as one of music’s greatest lyricists,” Irish President Michael D. Higgins paid tribute in a statement. His songs were “perfectly crafted poems.”
Shane MacGowan, who had been hospitalized several times since July, was born in England in 1957 to Irish parents. In 1982, he founded the group The Pogues. He then played Irish ballads in pubs performed at a hundred miles an hour by musicians cheerfully mixing Irish rhythms and punk energy.
Combining Celtic legends and drunkenness, The Pogues became the political voice of young Irish immigrants in London in the 1980s, anti-Thatcher and anti-censorship.
The Pogues’ biggest commercial success was “Fairytale of New York,” a 1987 duet between Shane MacGowan and Kirsty MacColl that became a Christmas classic tinged with Irish folklore.
Updated at 2:10 p.m. with the Irish President’s press release.
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