Shane MacGowan, lead singer of Celtic punk band The Pogues, has died at the age of 65 after a long illness, his wife announced Thursday.
“Shane (…) left to be with Jesus and Mary,” wrote his wife Victoria Mary Clarke on Instagram.
Shane MacGowan, who has been hospitalized several times since July, was born in England in 1957 to Irish parents.
In 1982 he founded the group The Pogues. He then played Irish ballads in pubs, played at 100mph by musicians who happily mixed Irish rhythms and punk energy.
Combining Celtic legends and drunkenness, the Pogues became the political voice of young Irish immigrants in 1980s London, opposing Thatcher and censorship.
The Pogues’ biggest commercial success was “Fairytale of New York,” a 1987 duet between Shane MacGowan and Kirsty MacColl that became a Christmas classic with a touch of Irish folklore.
Shane MacGowan was known for his songs documenting the lives of the Irish and the Irish diaspora.
“Shane will be remembered as one of music’s greatest lyricists,” Irish President Michael D. Higgins said in a statement. His songs are “fully developed poems,” he added.