Shane MacGowan dies aged 65 RIP Fairytale of New York

In a statement shared on social media, The Pogues wrote: “It is with the deepest of sorrow and heaviest of hearts that we announce the passing of Shane MacGowan. “Shane died peacefully at 3am this morning with his wife Victoria and family by his side.“ MacGowan had been receiving treatment at St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin for several months. He was discharged on 22 November and returned home to spend time with his friends and family. Born in Kent on 25 December 1957, the Irish star will forever be associated with the festive period thanks to The Pogues’ 1987 hit, Fairytale Of New York, featuring the late Kirsty MacColl. Throughout the 1980s and early ’90s, the trailblazing band also had hits including Dirty Old Town, The Irish Rover, A Pair Of Brown Eyes and A Rainy Night In Soho. MacGowan was a punk rebel, almost as famous for his drinking and drug taking - and for the toll it took on his teeth - as he was for his music. But he was a gifted storyteller from a young age, winning a literary prize when he was 13, and a scholarship to Westminster School for his essays. “I didn’t last there very long,“ in a 2013 interview. “I got nicked for smoking a joint and was kicked out.“ In a statement, President Michael D Higgins paid tribute to MacGowan, describing him as “one of music’s greatest lyricists“. President Higgins said that so many of MacGowan’s “songs would be perfectly crafted poems, if that would not have deprived us of the opportunity to hear him sing them. “His 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. He added: “On behalf of Sabina and I, may I extend my deepest condolences to Shane’s wife Victoria, his sister Siobhán, his father Maurice, his bandmates in the Pogues and other projects, and to all his many friends and family.“