Irish singer and songwriter Shane MacGowan has died aged 65. He was best known as frontman of The Pogues, whose single 'Fairytale Of New York' is a Christmas classic.
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 03:00 this morning with his wife Victoria and family by his side."
MacGowan's death follows a long period of ill health. He had been using a wheelchair since 2015 and more recently spent time in intensive care.
The singer's wife, journalist Victoria Mary Clarke, posted on Instagram that she felt "blessed beyond words to have met him and to have loved him and to have been so endlessly and unconditionally loved by him.
"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."
MacGowan founded celtic punk band The Pogues in 1980. The group rose to fame after supporting The Clash on tour in 1987, and their biggest hit 'Fairytale Of New York' resulted from a bet that MacGowan wouldn't be able to write a Christmas song.
The song is a duet with the late Kirsty MacColl, who died in tragic circumstances in 2001 at the age of 41.
In a tribute to MacGowan, President of Ireland Michael D Higgins said: "the genius of Shane's contribution includes the fact that his songs capture within them, as Shane would put it, the measure of our dreams."
