Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan dies at age 65
LONDON -- Shane MacGowan, the singer-songwriter and frontman of “Celtic Punk” band The Pogues, best known for the Christmas ballad “Fairytale of New York,” died Thursday, his family said. He was 65.“It is with the deepest sorrow and heaviest of hearts that we announce the passing of our most beautiful, darling and dearly beloved Shane MacGowan,” his wife Victoria Clarke, his sister Siobhan and father Maurice said in a statement.The singer died peacefully with his family by his side, the statement added.The musician had been hospitalized in Dublin for several months after being diagnosed with viral encephalitis in late 2022. He was discharged last week, ahead of his upcoming birthday on Christmas Day.The Pogues fused Irish traditional music and rock’n’roll into a unique, intoxicating blend...