Shane MacGowan, star of The Pogues, has died at the age of 65.
The news, announced on social media on Thursday by his wife Victoria Mary Clarke, comes just days after he was released from hospital following a long health battle.
“I don’t know how to say this so I am just going to say it,” Clarke began alongside a black and white photo of MacGowan.
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“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.
“I am blessed beyond words to have met him and to have loved him and to have been so endlessly and unconditionally loved by him and to have had so many years of life and love and joy and fun and laughter and so many adventures.
“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.
“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.”
British media reported MacGowan was in intensive care during his hospital stay.
It’s understood he was admitted to hospital in June amid his battle with viral encephalitis and had remained in inpatient care since.
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Last December, The Pogues frontman was diagnosed with viral encephalitis, a rare and potentially life-threatening condition that causes the brain to swell following a virus.
Last week, Clarke, 57, thanked MacGowan’s former bandmates Peter Richard Spider Stacy and Terry Woods for visiting the singer.
The Pogues formed in London in 1982 and are best known for the hit Fairytale of New York.
