At the age of 65, Shane MacGowan, the former frontman of the Pogues, who bridged the gap between punk rock and traditional Irish folk music, passed away on Thursday.
In a statement, MacGowan's wife Victoria Clarke confirmed the musician's passing. In addition, MacGowan "died peacefully this morning, November 30, at 3.30am with his wife and sister by his side," according to the BBC.
"There's 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," Clarke wrote. "Thank you thank you thank you thank you for your presence in this world you made it so very bright and you gave so much joy to so many people with your heart and soul and your music."
According to Sky News, MacGowan was treated for an illness at a Dublin hospital earlier this month after being diagnosed with viral encephalitis last year.
Clarke posted on Instagram two weeks ago, stating that she was "facing terrifying fears."
Over the course of the last forty years, the singer, songwriter, and guitarist has personified the essence of Irish culture by transforming classic pub hits like "Waxie's Dargle" and "I'm a Man You Don't Meet Every Day," along with the Dubliners' "Dirty Old Town," into exuberant rock hits alongside the Pogues.
His whiskey-sodden, deep, husky voice was the ideal complement to the Pogues' slide-whistle soundtracked rave-ups.
Eventually, MacGowan's extracurricular actions began to reflect his lyrics, as drinking took precedence above singing about drinking. His capricious nature ultimately resulted in his termination from the Pogues.
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After that, in 1992, he founded Shane MacGowan and the Popes. In 2001, he got back together with the Pogues, but they broke up again sometime around 2015.
After that, MacGowan was the leader of the Shane Gang and performed both alone and in collaboration with other musicians.
While his spouse, Clarke, stated he was clean by 2016, his years of vice had finally caught up with him; the year before, he had fallen out of a studio, breaking his pelvis, which would require a wheelchair for the remainder of his life.
Born in Kent, Ireland on December 25, 1957, Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan seemed destined for a terrible life.
"I've been fucking drinking since I was a kid," MacGowan told Rolling Stone in 1989. "I had my first bottle of Guinness when I was six, my first bottle of whiskey when I was seven. It made the world go mad; it fucking opened my mind to paradise. ... I haven't been sober, dead-straight sober, since I was 14. I'm not interested in being sober. Drinking makes me see things clearly."
While MacGowan's father, Maurice, a wages clerk, was bookish and interested in writing, his mother, Therese, a typewriter, had also worked as a model in Dublin and performed traditional dances and songs.
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