Shane MacGowan: A life in pictures
Singer Shane MacGowan with his father Maurice, mother Therese and sister Siobhan celebrating his 40th birthday with a cake before he appeared on the Late Late Show in 1997. Picture: Leon Farrell/RollingNews.ie
Ireland and the wider music world is in mourning today following the news of Shane MacGowan's passing.
The Pogues frontman died peacefully in his sleep last night, his wife Victoria Mary Clarke confirmed. His wife and family were by his side.
MacGowan was 65 and died following a long period of ill health.
Tributes have been flooding in since the news broke, from family, friends, fans, fellow musicians, and politicians.
MacGowan did a lot of living in his 65 years and he will long be remembered as one of Ireland's finest musicians.
Here we take a look back at the life and loves of the one and only Shane MacGowan.
MacGowan was born on December 25, 1957, near Tunbridge Wells.
His parents were Irish immigrants residing in Kent, and who moved around the south-east of England.
It was his mother Therese who was credited with passing on the gift of music to her son.
When she died in 2017, the funeral Mass heard that "so many people said she could have made a professional career, her singing was so good".
MacGowan described his mother as "the most amazing, kind, warm, thoughtful, beautiful, witty woman".
MacGowan met his wife, Victoria Mary Clarke, in a North London pub in 1984.
From then on, the pair were in each other's lives. Although there were some break-ups and make-ups in their earlier years, the couple stuck by each other's sides through everything.
After 32 years together, Victoria and Shane got married in Copenhagen City Hall in 2018.
Paying tribute to her late husband today, Victoria said: "Shane, who will always be the light that I hold before me and the measure of my dreams and the love of my life and the most beautiful soul and beautiful angel and the sun and the moon and the start and end of everything that I hold dear, has gone to be with Jesus and Mary and his beautiful mother Therese.
"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."
Throughout his career, MacGowan worked with incredibly talented women, including Kirsty MacColl and Sinéad O'Connor.
His friendship with O'Connor had its ups and downs but they were close friends until the end.
When O'Connor died earlier this year, Victoria Mary posted a statement on behalf of herself and Shane, saying: "Sinéad for your love and your friendship and your compassion and your humour and your incredible music. We pray that you are at peace now with your beautiful boy."
Throughout his life, music was a constant and something that brought him not only success but great joy.
Growing up, MacGowan said he learned a song a day from family on his mother’s side and gave his first performance at the age of three.
“They put me up on the kitchen table to sing and the song went down very well,” he told the Guardian. “I did public performances regularly after that.”
MacGowan's lyrics and music will continue to be sung and his impact and influence on the Irish music scene will last for generations.
MacGowan was widely admired for his musical brilliance and the way he could bring people together.
The unassuming frontman has fans across the world; among them, some of rock's biggest stars.
MacGowan had a way of connecting with people through his music, earning him a place in their hearts forever.
"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," said President Michael D Higgins.
It is no surprise that so many leading figures in the entertainment world and beyond have been left bereft by his passing.
"I truly believe that a hundred years from now, most of us will be forgotten. But I do believe that Shane’s music is going to be remembered and sung." — Bruce Springsteen
