Shane MacGowan, the boozy, rabble-rousing singer and chief songwriter of The Pogues, who infused traditional Irish music with the energy and spirit of punk, died Thursday, his family said. He was 65.
MacGowan91裸聊视频檚 songwriting and persona made him an iconic figure in contemporary Irish culture, and some of his compositions have become classics 91裸聊视频� most notably the bittersweet Christmas ballad 91裸聊视频淔airytale of New York,91裸聊视频� which Irish President Michael D. Higgins said 91裸聊视频渨ill be listened to every Christmas for the next century or more.91裸聊视频�
91裸聊视频淚t is with the deepest sorrow and heaviest of hearts that we announce the passing of our most beautiful, darling and dearly beloved Shane MacGowan,91裸聊视频� his wife Victoria Clarke, his sister Siobhan and father Maurice said in a statement.
The singer died peacefully with his family by his side, the statement added.
The musician had been hospitalized in Dublin for several months after being diagnosed with viral encephalitis in late 2022. He was discharged last week, ahead of his upcoming birthday on Christmas Day.
The Pogues melded Irish folk and rock 91裸聊视频檔91裸聊视频� roll into a unique, intoxicating blend, though MacGowan became as famous for his sozzled, slurred performances as for his powerful songwriting.
His songs blended the scabrous and the sentimental, ranging from carousing anthems to snapshots of life in the gutter to unexpectedly tender love songs. The Pogues91裸聊视频� most famous song, 91裸聊视频淔airytale of New York91裸聊视频� is a tale of down-on-their-luck immigrant lovers that opens with the decidedly unfestive words: 91裸聊视频淚t was Christmas Eve, babe, in the drunk tank.91裸聊视频� The duet between the raspy-voiced MacGowan and the velvet tones of the late Kirsty MacColl is by far the most beloved Pogues song in both Ireland and the U.K.
Singer-songwriter Nick Cave called Shane MacGowan 91裸聊视频渁 true friend and the greatest songwriter of his generation.91裸聊视频�
Higgins, the Irish president, said 91裸聊视频渉is songs capture within them, as Shane would put it, the measure of our dreams.91裸聊视频�
91裸聊视频淗is words have connected Irish people all over the globe to their culture and history, encompassing so many human emotions in the most poetic of ways,91裸聊视频� Higgins said.
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said MacGowan91裸聊视频檚 songs 91裸聊视频渂eautifully captured the Irish experience, especially the experience of being Irish abroad.91裸聊视频�
Sinn Fein President Mary Lou McDonald said: 91裸聊视频淣obody told the Irish story like Shane 91裸聊视频� stories of emigration, heartache, dislocation, redemption, love and joy.91裸聊视频�
Born on Christmas Day 1957 in England to Irish parents, MacGowan spent his early years in rural Ireland before the family moved back to London. Ireland remained the lifelong center of his imagination and his yearning. He grew up steeped in Irish music absorbed from family and neighbors, along with the sounds of rock, Motown, reggae and jazz.
He attended the elite Westminster School in London, from which he was expelled, and spent time in a psychiatric hospital after a breakdown in his teens.
MacGowan embraced the punk scene that exploded in Britain in the mid-1970s. He joined a band called the Nipple Erectors, performing under the name Shane O91裸聊视频橦ooligan, before forming The Pogues alongside musicians including Jem Finer and Spider Stacey.
The Pogues 91裸聊视频� shortened from the original name Pogue Mahone, a rude Irish phrase 91裸聊视频� fused punk91裸聊视频檚 furious energy with traditional Irish melodies and instruments including banjo, tin whistle and accordion.
91裸聊视频淚t never occurred to me that you could play Irish music to a rock audience,91裸聊视频� MacGowan recalled in 91裸聊视频淎 Drink with Shane MacGowan,91裸聊视频� a 2001 memoir co-authored with Clarke. 91裸聊视频淭hen it finally clicked. Start a London Irish band playing Irish music with a rock and roll beat. The original idea was just to rock up old ones but then I started writing.91裸聊视频�
The band91裸聊视频檚 first album, 91裸聊视频淩ed Roses for Me,91裸聊视频� was released in 1984 and featured raucous versions of Irish folk songs alongside originals including 91裸聊视频淏oys from the County Hell,91裸聊视频� 91裸聊视频淒ark Streets of London91裸聊视频� and 91裸聊视频淪treams of Whisky.91裸聊视频�
Playing pubs and clubs in London and beyond, the band earned a loyal following and praise from music critics and fellow musicians from Bono to Bob Dylan.
MacGowan wrote many of the songs on the next two albums, 91裸聊视频淩um, Sodomy and the Lash91裸聊视频� (1985) and 91裸聊视频淚f I Should Fall from Grace with God91裸聊视频� (1988), ranging from rollicking rousers like the latter album91裸聊视频檚 title track to ballads like 91裸聊视频淎 Pair of Brown Eyes91裸聊视频� and 91裸聊视频淭he Broad Majestic Shannon.91裸聊视频�
The band also released a 1986 EP, 91裸聊视频淧oguetry in Motion,91裸聊视频� which contained two of MacGowan91裸聊视频檚 finest songs, 91裸聊视频淎 Rainy Night in Soho91裸聊视频� and 91裸聊视频淭he Body of an American.91裸聊视频� The latter featured prominently in early-2000s TV series 91裸聊视频淭he Wire,91裸聊视频� sung at the wakes of Baltimore police officers.
91裸聊视频淚 wanted to make pure music that could be from any time, to make time irrelevant, to make generations and decades irrelevant,91裸聊视频� he recalled in his memoir.
The Pogues were briefly on top of the world, with sold-out tours and appearances on U.S. television, but the band91裸聊视频檚 output and appearances grew more erratic, due in part to MacGowan91裸聊视频檚 struggles with alcohol and drugs. He was fired by the other band members in 1991 after they became fed up with a string of no-shows, including when The Pogues were opening for Dylan. The band briefly replaced MacGowan with Clash frontman Joe Strummer before breaking up.
MacGowan performed with a new band, Shane MacGowan and the Popes, with whom he put out two albums: 91裸聊视频淭he Snake91裸聊视频� in 1995 and 91裸聊视频淭he Crock Of Gold91裸聊视频� in 1997. He reunited with The Pogues in 2001 for a series of concerts and tours, despite his well-documented problems with drinking and performances that regularly included slurred lyrics and at least one fall on stage.
MacGowan had years of health problems and used a wheelchair after breaking his pelvis a decade ago. He was long famous for his broken, rotten teeth until receiving a full set of implants in 2015 from a dental surgeon who described the procedure as 91裸聊视频渢he Everest of dentistry.91裸聊视频�
MacGowan received a lifetime achievement award from the Irish president on his 60th birthday. The occasion was marked with a celebratory concert at the National Concert Hall in Dublin with performers including Bono, Nick Cave, Sinead O91裸聊视频機onnor and Johnny Depp.
Clarke wrote on Instagram that 91裸聊视频渢here91裸聊视频檚 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.91裸聊视频�
91裸聊视频淚 am blessed beyond words to have met him and to have loved him and to have been so endlessly and unconditionally loved by him and to have had so many years of life and love and joy and fun and laughter and so many adventures,91裸聊视频� she wrote.
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