Shane MacGowan

He has been in a long-term relationship with, Victoria Mary Clarke.

He is as famous for his binge drinking as he is for his songs. On several occasions he turned up late or drunk for interviews, stage performances, award shows, or public events.

This artist is also the subject of a book released in 2000, titled, ‘Is Shane MacGowan Still Alive?’ by Tim Bradford.

Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan was born in Pembury, Kent, England to Therese, a traditional Irish dancer and singer and Maurice MacGowan, a wages clerk at C&A. He has a sister, Siobhan MacGowan.

From a very young age, he developed a deep love for literature, which was nurtured by his parents.

He studied at Holmewood House School at Turnbridge Well. He then won a scholarship to the prestigious Westminster School in 1971, but was expelled from the institution for taking drugs.

He had a major nervous breakdown when he was 17 and was admitted to a hospital for six months.

After a string of temporary jobs at supermarkets and bars, MacGowan formed his own punk band, ‘The Nipple Erectors’ or ‘The Nips’ in 1976. It was his first musical group and during this period he worked on several songs for the band along with Shanne Bradley.

In 1983, he started a punk band, ‘The Pogues’, with whom he recorded five studio albums, ‘Red Roses for Me’, ‘Rum Sodomy & the Lash’, ‘If I Should Fall From Grace With God’, ‘Peace and Love’ and ‘Hell’s Ditch’.

He appeared in the film, ‘Eat the Rich’ in 1987, alongside Al Pillay and Nosher Powell, which did quite poorly at the theaters.

The members of ‘The Pogues’ were annoyed by his alcoholism and finally kicked him out of the band, in 1991. After his departure from the group, Joe Strummer and Spider Stacy stepped in for vocals for two of the albums from the band— ‘Waiting for Herb’ and ‘Pogue Mahone’.

In 1994, he formed ‘Shane MacGowan and the Popes’ and released the album, ‘The Snake’ the same year.

The single, ‘Fairytale of New York’, released in 1987, is a duet with Kristy MacColl, which peaked at the no. 2 position in the ‘UK Singles Chart’ and the no.1 position in the ‘Irish Singles Chart’, the year it was released. In was re-released in 2012 and reached one million in sales, after nearly two decades of its original release.