The Pogues vocalist and songwriter Shane MacGowan has died, aged 65

Singer and musician Shane MacGowan, of the Pogues, at the family home in Nenagh, Tipperary, Ireland, 1997. MacGowan's parents moved back to Ireland in 1988 after thirty years in England, where Shane was born and grew up.

Shane MacGowen, one of Irish music's most iconic musicians, has passed away in Dublin at the age of 65 after a long illness. The Pogues singer-songwriter, guitar, banjo and bodhrán player is most famous for his co-written Christmas song A Fairytale Of New York, a duet with the late Kirsty MacColl, but leaves a legacy of songs, legendary shows and punk rock spirit that will cement his status as a key figure in Anglo-Irish music.

MacGowen was born to Irish immigrant parents in near Tunbridge Wells on Christmas Day, 1957. Raised in a musical family and learned the songs of his heritage from a young age, making his debut performance as a singer on a kitchen table at three years old. Despite growing up in England, he would spend his school holidays on his grandparents’ farm in Tipperary.