Shane MacGowan

A transcendent singer/songwriter who fused British punk with traditional Irish music, Shane MacGowan is best remembered as the leader of the Pogues. As their frontman and chief songwriter, he sang with a shambling mix of ferocity and tenderness, spinning tales of the drunk and the downtrodden like a modern-day James Joyce or Brenden Behan, two of his literary heroes. Songs like "The Old Main Drag" and "A Pair of Brown Eyes" established his reputation as a premier songwriter, while "Fairytale of New York," the group's 1987 collaboration with Kirsty MacColl, went on to become an...