He was best known as the songwriter of the Christmas classic “Fairytale of New York”, which is based on Irish folk music. Shane MacGowan has now passed away. The musician was 65 years old.
The singer of the Irish-British punk band The Pogues, Shane MacGowan, is dead. The musician died at the age of 65 after a long, serious illness, his wife Victoria Mary Clarke announced on Instagram. “Shane will always be the light I hold before me and the measure of my dreams and the love of my life,” it said.
The musician was recently hospitalized for several months. According to media reports, he suffered from encephalitis. According to the AP news agency, he was fired last week.
Irish roots as inspiration
MacGowan was born in December 1957 to Irish parents in the southeastern English county of Kent. As a student, he attended the renowned Westminster School in London thanks to a scholarship, but was expelled from school for drug possession. MacGowan began drinking alcohol as a child.
He reflected on his Irish roots in his music and wrote frequently about Irish culture and Irish nationalism. In 1982 he founded The Pogues, the first album “Red Roses for Me” was released in 1984. Their music is considered a model for the Celtic Punk genre, i.e. punk music with Irish influences. MacGowan ultimately became famous for “Fairytale Of New York,” which he sang with Kirsty MacColl in 1987. The song regularly tops polls for the most popular Christmas song in the UK and Ireland.
MacGowan later suffered from the consequences of his heavy alcohol and drug abuse. In 2016, his wife Victoria reported that her husband was dry. The musician has been in a wheelchair since breaking his pelvis in 2015.
Shane MacGowan performing with The Pogues.
“One of music’s greatest lyricists”
Ireland’s Prime Minister Leo Varadkar praised MacGowan on the short message service X, formerly Twitter, as a “great musician and artist” whose songs had “beautifully captured” the experiences of the Irish and the experiences of the Irish diaspora. Irish President Michael D. Higgins emphasized that MacGowan “will be remembered as one of music’s greatest lyricists.”
The leader of the Irish Sinn Féin, Mary Lou McDonald, spoke of MacGowan as a “poet, dreamer and advocate of social justice” and said Ireland had lost “one of its greatest and most popular musical icons”.
The late singer was also honored in the music scene. Australian musician Nick Cave spoke of a “very sad day” and the loss of a “true friend and the greatest songwriter of his generation”.
The Irish actress Siobhán McSweeney, known from the series “Derry Girls”, saw MacGowan as “the voice of London for us Irish”. When she was afraid of moving to the British capital, The Pogues frontman lured her “with songs about fortune seekers, drinkers, lovers, poets and villains.” “This is my place, I thought,” McSweeney wrote on X.
Gabi Biesinger, ARD London, tagesschau, November 30, 2023 3:00 p.m