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.

MacGowanB次元官网网址檚 songwriting and persona made him an iconic figure in contemporary Irish culture, and some of his compositions have become classics B次元官网网址� most notably the bittersweet Christmas ballad B次元官网网址淔airytale of New York,B次元官网网址� which Irish President Michael D. Higgins said B次元官网网址渨ill be listened to every Christmas for the next century or more.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淚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,B次元官网网址� 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 B次元官网网址檔B次元官网网址� 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 PoguesB次元官网网址� most famous song, B次元官网网址淔airytale of New YorkB次元官网网址� is a tale of down-on-their-luck immigrant lovers that opens with the decidedly unfestive words: B次元官网网址淚t was Christmas Eve, babe, in the drunk tank.B次元官网网址� 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 B次元官网网址渁 true friend and the greatest songwriter of his generation.B次元官网网址�

Higgins, the Irish president, said B次元官网网址渉is songs capture within them, as Shane would put it, the measure of our dreams.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淗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,B次元官网网址� Higgins said.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said MacGowanB次元官网网址檚 songs B次元官网网址渂eautifully captured the Irish experience, especially the experience of being Irish abroad.B次元官网网址�

Sinn Fein President Mary Lou McDonald said: B次元官网网址淣obody told the Irish story like Shane B次元官网网址� stories of emigration, heartache, dislocation, redemption, love and joy.B次元官网网址�

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 OB次元官网网址橦ooligan, before forming The Pogues alongside musicians including Jem Finer and Spider Stacey.

The Pogues B次元官网网址� shortened from the original name Pogue Mahone, a rude Irish phrase B次元官网网址� fused punkB次元官网网址檚 furious energy with traditional Irish melodies and instruments including banjo, tin whistle and accordion.

B次元官网网址淚t never occurred to me that you could play Irish music to a rock audience,B次元官网网址� MacGowan recalled in B次元官网网址淎 Drink with Shane MacGowan,B次元官网网址� a 2001 memoir co-authored with Clarke. B次元官网网址淭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.B次元官网网址�

The bandB次元官网网址檚 first album, B次元官网网址淩ed Roses for Me,B次元官网网址� was released in 1984 and featured raucous versions of Irish folk songs alongside originals including B次元官网网址淏oys from the County Hell,B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址淒ark Streets of LondonB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址淪treams of Whisky.B次元官网网址�

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, B次元官网网址淩um, Sodomy and the LashB次元官网网址� (1985) and B次元官网网址淚f I Should Fall from Grace with GodB次元官网网址� (1988), ranging from rollicking rousers like the latter albumB次元官网网址檚 title track to ballads like B次元官网网址淎 Pair of Brown EyesB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址淭he Broad Majestic Shannon.B次元官网网址�

The band also released a 1986 EP, B次元官网网址淧oguetry in Motion,B次元官网网址� which contained two of MacGowanB次元官网网址檚 finest songs, B次元官网网址淎 Rainy Night in SohoB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址淭he Body of an American.B次元官网网址� The latter featured prominently in early-2000s TV series B次元官网网址淭he Wire,B次元官网网址� sung at the wakes of Baltimore police officers.

B次元官网网址淚 wanted to make pure music that could be from any time, to make time irrelevant, to make generations and decades irrelevant,B次元官网网址� 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 bandB次元官网网址檚 output and appearances grew more erratic, due in part to MacGowanB次元官网网址檚 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: B次元官网网址淭he SnakeB次元官网网址� in 1995 and B次元官网网址淭he Crock Of GoldB次元官网网址� 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 B次元官网网址渢he Everest of dentistry.B次元官网网址�

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 OB次元官网网址機onnor and Johnny Depp.

Clarke wrote on Instagram that B次元官网网址渢hereB次元官网网址檚 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.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淚 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,B次元官网网址� she wrote.

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