Photo by Roberto Serra - Iguana Press/Getty Images
Shane MacGowan, the lead singer of Irish band The Pogues has died aged 65. MacGowan's family confirmed the news of his death, saying he died in the early hours of Thursday after a long period of ill health.
MacGowan has spent several months this year in intensive care after being hospitalised with viral encephalitis in late 2022. Earlier this month he had left hospital after his latest visit. A statement from MacGowan's spokesperson confirmed he "died peacefully at 3.30am this morning (30 November) with his wife and and sister by his side."
His wife Victoria Mary Clarke wrote in a statement shared on social media: “Shane will always be the light that I hold before me and the measure of my dreams and the love of my life … 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.”
"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,” Clarke added. “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."
The Pogues formed in 1982 and are perhaps best known for their classic Christmas single "Fairytale of New York," a collaboration with Kirsty MacColl released in 1988. The band recorded seven studio albums and split in 2014. The frontman was fired from the band in the early '90s and formed MacGowan and the Popes in 1992. He later reunited with the Pogues in 2001. He also released music as a solo artist and with Shane Gang. It was reported that he was working on an album with the band Cronin since around 2015.
A notoriously heavy drinker and drug user, MacGowan's wife reported he got sober in 2016. However, a fall outside a recording studio the year before left him with a fractured pelvis and meant he spent the rest of his life using a wheelchair.
A 2015 British TV special, Shane MacGowan: A Wreck Reborn, documented his surgery to replace all of his teeth, which had fallen out in 2008. He and Clarke co-wrote his memoir, A Drink With Shane MacGowan, in 2001, and a book of his art and lyrics, The Eternal Buzz and the Crock of Gold, was published in 2022.
MacGowan was a friend of Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor who died in July. In a 2022 interview with the New York Times he was asked about O'Connor, who had recently said she believed he had six months to live. MacGowan responded, “If there’s someone who wants a lot more of life, it’s me.”