Shane MacGowan, the brilliant but chaotic former songwriter and frontman for the Pogues, who reinvigorated interest in Irish music in the 1980s by harnessing it to the propulsive power of punk rock has died.
Mr. MacGowan’s wife, Victoria Mary Clarke, announced his death on Instagram.
Mr. MacGowan emerged from London’s punk scene of the late 1970s and spent nine tumultuous years with the initial incarnation of the Pogues.
He later founded Shane MacGowan & the Popes, with whom he recorded and toured in the 1990s.
Along the way, Mr. MacGowan earned twin reputations as a titanically destructive personality and a master songsmith whose lyrics painted vivid portraits of the underbelly of Irish emigrant life.
Persons:
Shane MacGowan, MacGowan’s, Victoria Mary Clarke, MacGowan, ’, ”
Organizations:
Pogues
Locations:
North London, New York