Shane MacGowan, frontman for The Pogues and ‘Fairytale of New York; singer, dies at age 65

LONDON — Shane Macgowan, the singer-songwriter and frontman of The Pogues, best known for their 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.