Pogues star Shane MacGowan has died at the age of 65 after an eight-year battle with his health.
The Fairytale of New York singer, who was diagnosed with viral encephalitis – a serious condition that causes the brain to swell – passed away at 3am this morning.
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Shane MacGowan has struggled with his health since 2015
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The Pogues star was famous for his hit song Fairytale of New York
Hellraiser Shane, whose 1987 song Fairytale of New York became a Christmas anthem and sold millions of copies worldwide, became as famous for his hard-partying lifestyle as he was for his legendary singing and peak songwriting in the 1980s.
In recent years, the icon was confined to a wheelchair, and his wife and caregiver helped him at home due to constant health problems.
Shane was being treated at St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin for an infection but was discharged last week ahead of his Christmas Day birthday.
Shane’s wife Victoria shared a heartbreaking statement today announcing his death.
She shared a throwback black and white photo of her beloved husband of five years and shared her shock at losing the “love of my life” and “beautiful angel”.
Victoria paid a touching tribute to Shane, who was “the beginning and end of everything I hold dear”.
She said, “I don’t know how to say it, so I’ll just say it.
“Shane who will always be the light I hold in front of me and the measure of my dreams and the love of my life and the most beautiful soul and a beautiful angel and the sun and the moon and the beginning and the end of everything that is dear to me has gone to be with Jesus and Mary and his beautiful mother Teresa .
“I am blessed beyond words to have met him and to have loved him and to have been loved so endlessly and unconditionally by him and to have had so many years of life and love and joy and fun and laughter and so many adventures.”
Victoria thanked Shane for the time they spent together and the “joy” he brought to the rest of the world.
Shane married his long-term love Victoria in an intimate ceremony in Denmark in 2018, after finally proposing after 32 years of dating.
The couple celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary after Shane was released from hospital last week.
Victoria added: “There is no way to describe the loss I feel and the longing for just one more of his smile that lit up my world.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you for your presence in this world, you made it so bright and you gave so much joy to so many people with your heart, soul and your music.
“You will live forever in my heart.
“Ravej in the garden all wet from the rain that you loved so much.
“You meant everything to me.”
It comes as..
Shane is survived by his wife Victoria, sister Siobhan and father Maurice.
Sharing a statement online, the family expressed their deep sadness and heartbreak at the loss of their beloved singer.
They said: “It is with the deepest sadness and heaviest heart that we announce the passing of Shane MacGowan.
“Shane died peacefully at 3am this morning (November 30, 2023) with his wife Victoria and family by his side.
“Prayers and last rites were read to comfort his family.
“He is survived by his wife Victoria, sister Siobhan, father Maurice, family and a large circle of friends.
“Further details will be released shortly, but the family is asking for privacy at this very sad time.”
In her sweet tribute, Siobhan shared a photo of her beaming brother and said: “So I walked as the day dawned; while the little birds sang and the leaves fell, where we once watched the rowboats land on the Broad Majestic Shannon”.
HEARTS OF THE WORLD
As fans shared their disappointment, paying tribute to a “true legend”, chairman Michael D Higgins recalled Shane’s “genius” and talent.
President Higgins said: “Like many around the world, I was deeply saddened to learn of the death of Shane MacGowan this morning.
“Shane will be remembered as one of the greatest songwriters in music. So many of his songs would be perfectly formed songs, that we wouldn’t be deprived of the opportunity to hear him sing them.
“The genius of Shane’s contribution includes the fact that his songs capture, as Shane would say, the measure of our dreams – so many worlds, and especially those worlds of love, the expat experience and facing the challenges of experiencing it with authenticity and courage, and living and seeing foreign of life from which many turn.
“His words connected Irish people around the world to their culture and history, encompassing so many human emotions in the most poetic way.”
Shane’s mother, Therese, was also a singer and was an inspiration in the Pogue star’s life and musical career.
Chairman Higgins continued: “Shane’s talent was nurtured from an early age by his mother, Therese, who is herself an award-winning folk singer.
“Therese, who lost her life in such tragic circumstances on New Year’s Day 2017, inspired in Shane a love of Irish music and traditions which resulted in beautiful music and lyrics that were a source of such joy to so many people.
“Born on Christmas Day, perhaps there was some form of destiny that led Shane to write ‘Fairytale of New York’, whose timeless quality will surely mean it will be listened to every Christmas for the next century or more.”
“Also, songs like ‘Rainy Night in Soho’, ‘A Pair of Brown Eyes’, ‘If I Should Fall from Grace with God’ and many others will live on for years and decades to come.
“And I think of ‘Haunted’ and the special poignancy that Shane and Sinead O’Connor left us with in such rapid succession.”
One of Shane’s last public appearances was in 2018 at a special 60th birthday bash at the National Concert Hall in Dublin.
Celebrities and Shane’s close friends such as Johnny Depp, Bono, Sinead O’Connor and Cerys Matthews performed his songs as President Higgins presented him with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
President Higgins described the presentation as “a great honor for me. A richly deserved honor.”
He added: “On behalf of Sabine and myself, may I offer our deepest condolences to Shane’s wife Victoria, his sister Siobhan, his father Maurice, his fellow Pogues and other projects and all his many friends and family.”
Shane’s bandmate Peter “Spider” Stacy paid tribute to his fellow Pogues co-founder by sharing a picture of him performing on stage.
Taking to X, ex-Twitter, Stacy wrote: “‘Oh Captain! My Captain! Our terrible journey is over..'”
THE RISE OF THE POG
Shane was born on Christmas Day in Pembury, Kent, in 1957 to Irish parents – his father worked in retail and his mother an Irish dancer.
He soon moved to rural Tipperary where he was immersed in Irish ceili and show band culture before the family returned to England.
Shane was expelled from the prestigious Westminster School in London in his second year when he was caught in possession of drugs.
He later claimed that he hadn’t been sober a single day in his life since he was 14.
In 2001, Sinead O’Connor reported him to the police for drug possession – in what she said was an attempt to discourage him from using heroin.
The star has always spoken openly about his struggle with drug and alcohol addiction, which left him without all his teeth by 2008.
Seven years after Shane lost his last teeth, he underwent a nine-hour procedure to fit 28 light-up dentures on a titanium frame and gold tooth.
Shane’s ouster led the star to join punk bands and form his own, before the birth of The Pogues in 1982.
Shane on vocals, Peter “Spider” Tracy on tin whistle and Jem Finer on banjo were the original members.
James Fearnley, accordion player for Nips, Andrew Ranken on drums and Cait O’Riordan on bass completed the line-up.
The band’s initial name, Pogue Mahone, was an Anglicized expression for “kiss my ass”, póg mo thóin.
The band played traditional Irish and rebel songs and later performed songs with great depth, thanks to MacGowan’s songwriting talent.
The band reached their critical peak with 1985’s Rum, Sodomy and the Lash, and their commercial peak with 1988’s If I Should Fall from Grace with God.
The latter gave the band their biggest hit, MacGowan’s duet with Kirsty MacColl in the song Fairytale of New York. Although The Pet Shop Boys kept it in the coveted festive number one spot, Fairytale regularly tops the polls for best Christmas song.
However, the band dropped MacGowan in 1991 after his erratic lifestyle and excessive drinking began to affect his creative output.
The rock beast has time and again defied critics who said he had a ‘death wish’.
The Tipperary rocker once told the Irish Sun: “All the people who said I wanted to die and I wouldn’t see 30 — where are they now? If I had a death wish, I’d be dead.”
Shane formed his own band, The Popes, and toured, but returned with The Pogues in 2001.
“BONES TURNED TO POWDER”
In September 2020, a new documentary was released, Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan, directed by Julien Temple and produced by Johnny Depp.
It featured never-before-seen archival footage of the band and MacGowan’s family, as well as animation by illustrator Ralph Steadman.
In 2021, Mick Cronin of Irish indie rock band Cronin revealed that MacGowan had recorded with them in May.
“Once he’s in the studio, he’s all fired up,” the drummer told the New York Times.
In November 2022, MacGowan published his first art book.
The book, titled The Eternal Buzz and the Crock of Gold, included never-before-seen artwork, handwritten texts and school essays.
Over the past eight years, Shane has struggled with health issues and eventually needed help getting out of bed.
Roker’s mobility was dramatically reduced after a fall in 2015 that left him with a broken pelvis.
At the time, Shane told Vice that he “fell on the wrong side,” leaving him “with a limp on one leg” and unable to walk without crutches.
The singer was forced to use a wheelchair for the next few years, and last year his injuries worsened after he fell and broke his knee shortly after rupturing a ligament.
He said then: “You discover that your bones have been turned into dust.”
But despite his lifestyle, Shane regularly said he was “glad to be alive” and “grateful to wake up”, wife Victoria said.
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Shane’s wife Victoria announced the tragic death of The Pogues star Credit: Social Media Collect
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Shane’s friend Johnny Depp was there to celebrate MacGowan’s 60th birthday and a lifetime achievement award from President HigginsCredit: � www.splashnews.com
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