Shane MacGowan, Pogues Singer, Dead at 65
by Best Classic Bands Staff
Shane MacGowan, in the “Fairytale of New York” video
Shane MacGowan, the frontman for the Celtic post-punk band The Pogues, died this morning (Nov. 30, 2023) in Dublin, Ireland. According to an obituary published by the BBC, MacGowan, who was 65, had been in ill health and had been diagnosed with encephalitis. He had recently been hospitalized and had a long history of alcohol and drug problems.
MacGowan’s wife, Victoria Mary Clarke, posted on social media that “he meant the world to me” and added that he “will always be the light that I hold before me and the measure of my dreams and the love of my life and the most beautiful soul and beautiful angel and the sun and the moon and the start and end of everything that I hold dear.”
Irish president Michael Higgins commented, “His words have connected Irish people all over the globe to their culture and history … The genius of Shane’s contribution includes the fact that his songs capture within them, as Shane would put it, the measure of our dreams – of so many worlds, and particularly those of love, of the emigrant experience and of facing the challenges of that experience with authenticity and courage, and of living and seeing the sides of life that so many turn away from.”
Born on Christmas Day in 1957 in Penbury, Kent, England, to Irish immigrant parents, MacGowan was raised in Tipperary, Ireland, until age 6, then lived in various locations in southeast England. As a teen, he became enamored of punk during the genre’s infancy and joined the band the Nipple Erectors (later shortened to the Nips) in 1976. He also sang during the late ’70s with a band called the Millwall Chainsaws, also known as the New Republicans.
Shane MacGowan (photo from his website)
In 1982, MacGowan, along with Peter “Spider” Stacy (tin whistle), and Jem Finer (banjo), co-founded Pogue Mahone (Gaelic for “kiss my ass”), which played its first gig at the Pindar of Wakefield that October. Joined by Cait O’Riordan (bass) and Andrew Ranken (drums), the group built a reputation as a strong live act in London’s teeming club scene, welding traditional Celtic elements with the fury of punk. Condensing their name to the Pogues, they signed with Stiff Records and released their debut single, “Dark Streets of London,” in 1984, followed by the album Red Roses for Me.
Although they received positive notices in the press for their often topical songwriting, the group’s fortunes didn’t rise until 1985 with the release of Rum Sodomy & the Lash, their second album, produced by Elvis Costello.
The album itself peaked at #13 in the U.K. abd was followed by 1988’s If I Should Fall from Grace with God, which peaked at #3 in the U.K. and became the band’s first charting album in the U.S., with a #88 placement. The album included the MacGowan-Finer-written track “Fairytale of New York,” recorded as a duet between MacGowan and singer Kirsty MacColl; it was released initially in 1987 as a single, reaching #1 in Ireland and #2 in the U.K. The song has since become a Christmas staple in the U.K.
Two more albums with the Pogues, Peace and Love (1989) and Hell’s Ditch (1990), fared well in Britain but generated mediocre sales in the United States.
Related: Kirsty MacColl was killed in a speedboat accident in 2000
MacGowan was subsequently fired from the Pogues for his consistently unprofessional behavior and in 1992 formed his own group, Shane MacGowan and the Popes, which recorded two studio albums (The Snake and The Crock of Gold) and one live set. He reunited with the Pogues for a tour in 2001 and continued to tour with the group between 2004-2009. In 2010 he formed a group called the Shane Gang. He also recorded numerous collaborative singles, with artists such as Nick Cave and Sinead O’Connor.
Related: Musicians we’ve lost in 2023
Watch the Pogues perform “Dirty Old Town”
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3 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationJust me nitpicking a bit, but “Fairytale of NY” wasn’t on “Rum, Sodomy & the Lash”. It was in fact on their 3rd album “If I Should Fall from Grace with God”. RIP Shane. And thanks.
Good catch. We’ve made the correction.
Ah Shane. Ye had a good run laddie.