DUBLIN: Renowned Irish singer and songwriter Shane MacGowan, has died aged 65 after a prolonged illness, his wife announced on Thursday.
The lead singer of Celtic folk-punk group The Pogues, had been in and out of hospital in Dublin since July.
MacGowan’s wife Victoria Mary Clarke in an Instagram post said “Shane who will always be the light that I hold before me… has gone to be with Jesus and Mary and his beautiful mother Therese,”.
The singer is most famous for penning The Pogues’s biggest hit, the Irish folk-tinged Christmas classic “Fairytale of New York” in 1987.
The banned co-formed by MacGowan fused punk and Irish folk music. He was born in England but spent much of his childhood in Ireland with his mother’s family.
Irish President Michael D. Higgins in a statement said that Shane will be remembered as one of music’s greatest lyricists.
He said 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.
