November 30, (THEWILL) – Irish singer and songwriter, Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan, who was the lead singer and songwriter of the Celtic punk band the Pogues tragically passed away at aged 65.
The legendary music icon, behind the Christmas classic Fairytale of New York, sadly passed away following an eight-year struggle with a brain condition.
His wife, Victoria Mary Clarke, announced his death through an emotional Instagram post. Attaching the heart-wrenching message to a black and white photo of MacGowan, Clarke said:
‘‘I 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.
“You will live in my heart forever. Rave on in the garden all wet with rain that you loved so much. You meant the world to me.’’
In the summer of 2015, MacGowan faced a life-altering fall leaving him wheelchair-bound due to a fractured pelvis. Despite a challenging recovery, he continued to navigate life with resilience, using a wheelchair until his passing in 2023. His journey also included a transformative dental procedure in 2015, and in the later years, he grappled with health issues, ultimately succumbing to them on November 30, 2023, at home with his wife.
Following his death, Michael Higgins, President of Ireland, said, “Shane will be remembered as one of music’s greatest lyricists. 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. 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, 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.”
About the Author
