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Fairytale of New York may be one of the great holiday anthems, but the heartbreaking story behind the song means it will always be associated not only with Christmas, but with tragedy as well.
Singer Kirsty MacColl, who dueted with Shane MacGowan on the festive hit, died aged 41 in 2000 after a horror boating accident while diving in Mexico with her two children.
His death came just seconds after he heroically saved the life of his 15-year-old son Jamie. His other son, Louis, 13, also witnessed the tragedy but survived, as did MacColl’s musician boyfriend, James Knight.
Like her close friend, MacGowan was among those left devastated by her untimely passing, and the Pogues frontman later admitted to feeling depressed singing the tune in later years.
MacGowan himself died today aged 65 after an eight-year battle with brain disease, prompting an outpouring of tributes from other celebrities and his millions of fans.
The punk icon had lost his mother in shocking circumstances when she died after her car crashed into a wall on New Year’s Day 2017. Therese MacGowan, 87, was driving alone and her death was treated as an accident.
The late Shane MacGowan pictured with Kirsty MacColl, who died in December 2000. The pair sang together on the huge hit The Fairytale of New York.
The song was released in 1988 and has become one of the great Christmas anthems. But it hides a darker story.
MacColl and MacGowan pose with toy guns and an inflatable Santa Claus in 1987, marking their hit Fairytale of New York.
Before his death today, Shane had been in intensive care for months after being diagnosed with viral encephalitis last year, and his wife Victoria Mary Clarke regularly shared updates on his condition with her fans on social media.
The singer was diagnosed with the illness late last year and was said to have been aggravated by shingles that had spread to his eye.
Tragically, it was just the latest in a long line of medical mishaps the Celtic band star has suffered over the years.
In 2016 she fell and broke her pelvis while dancing and has had to use a wheelchair or a Zimmer frame ever since.
Another fall left him with a broken right knee and torn ligaments around his left knee.
The series of falls left his wife as his carer and the singer previously said he does not expect to walk again.
Early in his life, the singer overcame a heroin addiction, a high-speed fall from a car, and numerous drunken fights.
Shane’s wife, Victoria Mary Clarke, shared the news of his death in a post on Instagram today. “I don’t know how to say this, so I’m just going to say it,” he wrote.
MacGowan has been in intensive care for months after being diagnosed with viral encephalitis last year.
The English singer died at the age of 41 in 2000 after a terrible boat accident while diving in Mexico with her two children.
MacGowan (center) lying in his hospital bed in a photo shared by his wife, Victoria.
‘Shane, who will always be the light before me and the measure of my dreams and the love of my life and the most beautiful soul and the most beautiful angel and the sun and the moon and the beginning and the end of everything I appreciation. he has gone to be with Jesus and Mary and his beautiful mother Teresa.
“I feel blessed beyond words to have known him and to have loved him and to have been loved so infinitely and unconditionally by him and to have had so many years of life, love, joy, fun, laughter and so many adventures.”
In a touching tribute, MacGowan’s sister Siobhan shared lyrics to the Pogues’ song The Broad Majestic Shannon in honor of her brother.
Carrying X he wrote: ‘So I walked when it was dawn; while the little birds sang and the leaves fell, where we once saw the rowboats land on the Broad Majestic Shannon,’
A statement from MacGowan’s spokesperson confirmed that he “died peacefully at 3.30am this morning with his wife and sister by his side.”
“Prayers and last rites were read during his death,” he added.
MacGowan’s mother, Therese, (left) died in a car accident on New Year’s Day 2017. They are pictured with Shane’s father, Maurice.
Mrs MacGowan, pictured with her son at a charity event in 2007, was a traditional Irish singer and dancer and had worked as a model in Dublin.