Shane MacGowan: U2 and Paul Weller lead tributes to Pogues singer

U2, Paul Weller and Pete Doherty are among the stars who have paid tribute to Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan.

The singer-songwriter died on Thursday at the age of 65 following a recent stay in hospital.

He was best known for hits including 1987’s Fairytale of New York and A Pair of Brown Eyes.

U2 frontman Bono shared a sketch of the star on X/Twitter, writing: “Shane MacGowan’s songs were perfect so he or we his fans didn’t have to be.”

Libertines frontman Doherty told the BBC World Service he “loved and respected” the Pogues singer, who he said was “up there in the top three or four lyricists in the last 30 or 40 years”.

MacGowan had “a gift for melody” and was a “kind of an old romantic [who] told tales, told stories in songs, strong characters, he painted a lot of pictures and fairytales”, Doherty said.

He told Newshour that the song Fairytale of New York, which remains one of the UK’s best-loved Christmas songs, was an “absolute belter” and one “you never get tired of hearing”.

Doherty recalled performing on stage with MacGowan, saying they made the “strongest connections”.

He said: “For a long time I was sitting at his feet in awe… In certain difficult times of my life I could speak to him. When I was in jail, he knew some people, who knew some people and he helped me out of a few spots and I just felt close to him.”

Doherty added: “I knew he was ill but I thought he was bulletproof.”

MacGowan’s former Pogues bandmate James Fearnley described the singer as “a tearaway” who “had a lot of concern for the state of the world” and who “spoke very deeply and incisively to a lot of people”.

Fearnley told BBC Radio 5 Live: “I’m privileged to have worked with somebody like that, and lived with somebody like that, and drank with somebody like that, and shared a lot of experiences with somebody like that. I’m very sorry he’s gone.”

A statement from MacGowan’s spokesperson confirmed he died peacefully on Thursday.

His wife, Victoria Mary Clarke, wrote: “I am going to miss him so much! His smile, his eyes his laugh his sense of humour and his voice, every little part of him.”

MacGowan revealed he was diagnosed with encephalitis, a serious condition in which the brain becomes inflamed, last year in a video posted to social media on New Year’s Eve.

Others who have paid tribute to MacGowan include Irish musician and actress Camille O’Sullivan, who told 5 Live he was “a lovable, gentle kind of soul, and he was a sweetheart”.

“He was a complex guy. He didn’t say much, but when he did say stuff it was really astute,” she added. “He had a little cackley laugh and he was a bit like a young boy when he talked to you.

“You’d always think Shane was not listening or thinking something else and then he’d come out with [something] – he was very astute about stuff, and very learned about films and books. And so he’d be quiet, and suddenly he’d blow everybody away in the room.”

Nick Cave called him “a true friend and the greatest songwriter of his generation”, adding that it was “a very sad day”.

The Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess also paid tribute, saying MacGowan had “a life lived to the full” and was “a lyrical genius”.

Irish President Michael D Higgins described MacGowan as one of “music’s greatest lyricists”.

“His words have connected Irish people all over the globe to their culture and history, encompassing so many human emotions in the most poetic of ways,” he said.

TV presenter Carol Vorderman shared a picture of MacGowan and the late Sinead O’Connor on X, calling them “the incredible rebel of my generation”.