Shane MacGowan, irascible frontman of The Pogues, has died at age 65
The frontman of the Irish punk band The Pogues, Shane MacGowan, was a heavy drinker. He passed away. He was sixty-five years old.
Thursday morning, his wife Victoria Mary Clarke made the announcement of his passing. Although encephalitis was MacGowan's stated cause of death, he had only recently been released from a Dublin, Ireland, hospital.
His family released a statement saying, "It is with the deepest sorrow and heaviest of hearts that we announce the passing of Shane MacGowan." "Shane died peacefully at 3am this morning (30 November, 2023) with his wife Victoria and family by his side."
Growing up in England, Shane MacGowan was an Irishman whose compositions fused punk and folk music in a fierce way.
In Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds With Shane MacGowan, MacGown stated, "God said I'm the little boy he's going to use to save Irish music and take it to greater popularity than it's ever had before."
His group, The Pogues, was once compared to an instrument-wielding bar fight. MacGowan was a volatile supporter of it. McGowan led the Pogues to worldwide recognition, but his drug and alcohol abuse would kill his physique.
In 2006, Philip Chevron, the guitarist for the Pogues, told NPR that since Shane was 19, "people have given him six months to live every year."
"Fairytale of New York," one of the darkest and most poignant Christmas songs ever composed, was MacGowan's final composition and was released in 1987.
Music producer Hal Willner said of the musician, "I know he's got a reputation for outrageous behavior [and] lots of alcohol in his act... but he's one of the most well-read, sophisticated people I've ever met," in an interview with NPR's Fresh Air.
MacGowan stated, "I'm just living the Irish way of life," in Crock of Gold. "Cram as much pleasure as you can in your life and rile against the pain that you have to suffer as a result and then wait for it to be taken away with beautiful pleasure."