Shane MacGowan, Legendary Frontman of The Pogues, Dies at 65

Shane MacGowan, the larger than life frontman of The Pogues, has died at the age of 65.

“It is with the deepest sorrow and heaviest of hearts that we announce the passing of Shane MacGowan,” read a statement posted on the band’s X account on behalf of MacGowan’s wife, sister, and father. No cause of death was given, but the statement MacGowan “died peacefully at 3am” on Thursday morning “with his wife Victoria by his side.”

The singer, whose 1987 hit with Fairytale of New York remains a beloved Christmas ballad, had only recently been discharged from hospital in Dublin in time for the holidays, according to the BBC. MacGowan had suffered from multiple health issues in recent years and was last year diagnosed with encephalitis, a serious condition in which the brain swells.

Victoria Mary Clarke, MacGowan’s wife, said he had been “struggling” earlier in November but had since improved. In an emotional Instagram post Thursday, she called her husband “the most beautiful soul” and said he has “gone to be with Jesus and Mary and his beautiful mother Therese.” “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,” she added.

MacGowan was born in Kent, southeast England, on Christmas Day, 1957. The son of Irish immigrants, MacGowan first performed in a punk rock group in 1976 named the Nipple Erectors before forming Pogue Mahone—later renamed The Pogues—in 1982. He released seven studio albums with the band until their final split in 2014.

As well as being celebrated for his lyrical songs, MacGowan was well known for his heavy drinking, drug use, and smoking. He was also known for his notoriously bad teeth—so much so that an hour-long documentary was released in 2015 about his mammoth dental restoration.

In an interview to promote the film, he revealed that his mobility had been drastically reduced after a fall which shattered his pelvis. He used a wheelchair for the remaining years of his life.

He married Irish journalist Clarke in 2018 at a ceremony in Copenhagen. Johnny Depp, who had featured on The Snake—MacGowan’s first solo record, released in 1994—played guitar at the ceremony.

“Shane will be remembered as one of music’s greatest lyricists,” Irish President Michael D. Higgins said in a statement Thursday. “So many of his songs would be perfectly crafted poems, if that would not have deprived us of the opportunity to hear him sing them.” Higgins also noted the “particular poignancy” that both MacGowan and his friend, Sinéad O’Connor—who died in July— “have left us in such quick succession.”