Shane MacGowan, the frontman of Anglo-Irish Celtic punk band The Pogues, died Thursday. He was 65.
“It is with the deepest sorrow and heaviest of hearts that we announce the passing of Shane MacGowan,” his family said in a joint statement shared on The Pogues’ Twitter.
MacGowan “died peacefully” at 3 a.m. with his wife, Victoria Mary Clarke, and other loved ones by his side, according to the post.
“Prayers and the last rites were read which gave comfort to his family,” the statement continued.
The family asked for privacy at this “very sad time” and said further details would be announced shortly.
MacGowan, who battled addiction during his career, shared last year that he had been diagnosed with encephalitis, which the Mayo Clinic defines as inflammation of the brain.
He was also hospitalized for health issues earlier this month, the BBC reported.
Clarke, an Irish journalist, shared an emotional message about the musician after his death.
“I don’t know how to say this so I am just going to say it. Shane who will always be the light that I hold before me and the measure of my dreams and the love ❤️ of my life and the most beautiful soul and beautiful angel and the sun and the moon and the start and end of everything that I hold dear has gone to be with Jesus and Mary and his beautiful mother Therese,” she wrote on Instagram Thursday alongside a throwback photo of MacGowan.
Clarke said that she is “blessed beyond words” to have met and loved him and for their years of “joy and fun and laughter and so many adventures.”
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“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,” she wrote. “Thank you thank you thank you thank you for your presence in this world you made it so very bright and you gave so much joy to so many people with your heart and soul and your music.”
“You will live in my heart forever. Rave on in the garden all wet with rain that you loved so much ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ You meant the world to me.”
The couple had celebrated their five-year wedding anniversary just days before MacGowan’s death, with Clarke sharing an Instagram photo of herself kissing her husband as he sat in a hospital bed.
The “Fairytale of New York” songwriter fronted The Pogues from 1982 until the band split in 2014.
Born in Kent, England, on Christmas Day, the rocker is survived by his wife, his sister, Siobhan MacGowan, and his father, Maurice MacGowan.
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