The Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan, who was behind the iconic Christmas song Fairytale of New York, has died aged 65.
MacGowan formed the legendary band with Peter ‘Spider’ Stacy (tin whistle), and Jem Finer (banjo) in 1982.
The band’s biggest hit was Fairytale of New York. Although it was kept off the coveted festive number one spot by The Pet Shop Boys, Fairytale regularly tops polls for the best Christmas song.
But the band have a long history away from Fairytale, with several hit albums and multiple line up changes.
The Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan, who was behind the iconic Christmas song Fairytale of New York, has died aged 65 – pictured MacGowan, Andrew Ranken, Jem Finer, Terry Woods, James Fearley, Philip Chevron, Spider Stacy and Cait O’Riordan
Where are The Pogues now?
The lineup for the band consisted of Shane MacGowan, Spider Stacy, Jem Finer, James Fearnley, Terry Woods, Darryl Hunt and other musicians throughout the years.
MacGowan became involved with the burgeoning punk movement in 1970s England, and played occasionally with future bandmates Stacy and Finer in a band called The Millwall Chainsaws after MacGowan and Stacy met in the toilets at a Ramones gig at in 1977.
Fearnley, who had been a guitarist with MacGowan’s band The Nips, joined the trio and the band Pogue Mahone was formed, thanks to a name suggestion from Stacy.
The new group played their first gig at in 1982. The band reached their critical peak with the 1985 album Rum, Sodomy and the Lash, and their commercial peak with 1988’s If I Should Fall from Grace with God.
The latter provided the band with their biggest hit, MacGowan duetting with Kirsty MacColl on Fairytale of New York.
However, MacGowan’s erratic lifestyle and prodigious drinking began to dim his creative output and limited his ability to fulfil live commitments and promotional activities.
Eventually, The Pogues sacked him in 1991 for his increasingly unreliable behaviour. He later claimed he had not been sober a single day in his life since he was 14.
After the Pogues’ break-up in 1996, the three remaining long-term members (Stacy, Ranken and Hunt) played together briefly as The Vendettas.
MacGowan formed his own band The Popes and toured extensively before performing with The Pogues again in 2001 and continued to tour with the band for several years, although no new music was recorded.
The lineup for the band consisted of Shane MacGowan, Spider Stacy, Jem Finer, James Fearnley, Terry Woods, Darryl Hunt and other musicians throughout the years. Cait O’Riordan, Andrew Rankin, Jem Finer in 1984.
Jem Finer
Jem Finer, 68, famously co-wrote Fairytale Of New York with MacGowan. As well as composing alongside the frontman, Finer was also the band’s banjoist and occasionally played other instruments including mandola, saxophone, hurdy-gurdy and the guitar.
Since founding The Pogues Finer has led a varied career including composing Longplayer, a piece of music designed to last 1000 years without ever repeating itself, which began playing on January 1 2000 in both computer-generated and live versions.
Finer also holds a keen interest in long-term sustainability and the reconfiguring of older technologies, including a series of hurdy-gurdy recordings.
Speaking to the i in 2017, Finer discussed his career highlights which included the composition of Fairytale.
‘It’s not a blank, vacuous celebration of fun and over consumption, rather a human story that many people can probably relate to,’ he told the paper about why the song is still so loved.
Finer began writing Fairytale of New York in the autumn of 1985 when The Pogues were tasked with covering a Christmas song by The Band.
‘Shane and I thought: ‘Sod that, let’s write our own,’ he recalled, revealing the story about a bitter couple during the festive period came from his wife, Marcia Farquhar.
Jem Finer, 68, famously co-wrote Fairytale Of New York with MacGowan. As well as composing alongside the frontman, Finer was also the band’s banjoist (pictured in 2014)
Darryl Hunt
Darryl was The Pogue’s bass player. He died in August 2022 at the age of 72. The band’s official social media account announced that he died by quoting their song Love You ‘Till The End, which was written by the bassist.
They said: ‘I know you want to hear me catch my breath / I love you till the end.’
Hunt, born in Hampshire on May 4 1950, joined the Irish London punk rock group first as roadie and then as a bassist in 1986.
He then went on to collaborate on their 1988 album If I Should Fall From Grace With God which featured Fairytale Of New York.
Hunt started out as part of the pub rock band Plummet Airlines and The Favourites.
Hunt featured in material until their last album, Pogue Mahone, in 1996 and also has writing credits on a number of their songs including Love You Til the End.
Darryl was The Pogue’s bass player. He died in August 2022 at the age of 72
Hunt, born in Hampshire on May 4 1950, joined the Irish London punk rock group first as roadie and then as a bassist in 1986. Pictured: Spider Stacy (L) and Darryl Hunt (R) perform in 2011 in New York City
Spider Stacy
Spider, real name Peter Richard Spider Stacy, 64, played the tin whistle in The Pogues.
After the Pogues’ break-up, Stacy briefly formed a new band, Wisemen—soon renamed The Vendettas—which included ex-Pogues members Andrew Ranken and Darryl Hunt.
He has collaborated with big names over the years, playing with Patti Smith at the National Theatre on Southbank in 2009.
In 2015 Stacy teamed up with Cajun music band Lost Bayou Ramblers to perform Pogues songs under the name Poguetry in Motion. The band embarked on an eight-date tour of the US in 2020.
He has also dabbled in acting, appearing as a street musician in season two of HBO’s Treme in 2011.
Stacy landed the party after he befriended the series’ co-creator David Simon who used several Pogues songs in his hit show The Wire.
Spider, real name Peter Richard Spider Stacy, 64, played the tin whistle in The Pogues (pictured with Macgowan in 2005)
In 2015 Stacy teamed up with Cajun music band Lost Bayou Ramblers to perform Pogues songs under the name Poguetry in Motion (pictured in 2016)
Terry Woods
Terry Woods, 75, played the guitar and mandolin in The Pogues after becoming a permanent member of the band in 1985.
Terry left the band after their 1993 album Waiting For Herb and formed a band called The Bucks with Ron Kavana. Kavana had been a support act for The Pogues in the ’80s.
Terry Woods, 75, played the guitar and mandolin in The Pogues after becoming a permanent member of the band in 1985 (pictured in 2009)
Philip Chevron
The band’s lead guitarist Philip Chevron died in 2013 at the age of 56 after a battle with cancer.
Chevron performed on some of the band’s best known albums including Rum, Sodomy And The Lash and If I Should Fall From Grace With God after joining the line-up in 1984.
He was treated for head and neck cancer in 2007 and was later given a clean bill of health.
The following year he embarked on a tour of the US with The Pogues and managed to sing Thousands Are Sailing, which he wrote, during every show.
In May 2013 it was announced that the cancer had returned and that it was ‘lethal’ after he had been told that operating on the tumour carried too great a risk.
His last public appearance was at the Olympia Theatre for a fundraiser in August of the same year.
The band’s lead guitarist Philip Chevron died in 2013 at the age of 56 after a battle with cancer (pictured third from left with the band in 1990)
Caitlín O’Riordan
Caitlin, 58 played bass guitar and provided backing vocals for the band from 1983 to 1986.
She was invited by MacGowan to join his newly forming band Pogue Mahone in 1982 and went on to feature on the group’s first two albums, Red Roses for Me and Rum Sodomy & the Lash before leaving in 1986.
Fairytale was written as a duet for O’Riordan and MacGowan, but the band eventually recorded it with Kirsty MacColl instead.
In 1983, she became the singer in Darryl Hunt’s jazz band Pride of the Cross. O’Riordan became romantically involved with Elvis Costello in 1985, while he was producing the Pogues’ album. They divorced in 2002.
Caitlin, 58 (pictured far right) played bass guitar and provided backing vocals for the band from 1983 to 1986 (pictured with MacGowan, Andrew Rankin, Jem Finer, Spider Stacy and James Fearnley
In 2004, she toured with the Pogues for the first time in 18 years.
Later, she returned to studying and in 2012, completed a BA in Psychology.
In more recent years O’Riordan joined Spider Stacy to perform Pogues songs accompanied by Cajun music band Lost Bayou Ramblers under the name Poguetry and has hosted a weekly radio show, The Rocky O’Riordan Show on U2-X Radio since 2020.
James Fearnley
Fearnley played accordion in The Pogues and was one of its founding members.
He left the band in 1994 due to the band’s heavy touring schedule, to spend more time with his family – actress wife Danielle von Zerneck and their two daughters Martha and Irene.
Fearnley has since appeared as a guest musician on albums with Talking Heads, Steve Earle, Dylan Walshe and Melissa Etheridge.
He released a memoir Here Comes Everybody: The Story of the Pogues in 2012.
Most recently he has performed as part of supergroup The Walker Roaders alongside Flogging Molly’s Ted Hutt and Marc Orrell of Dropkick Murphys.
Fearnley played accordion in The Pogues and was one of its founding members (pictured in 2014)
Andrew Ranken played drums for The Pogues for the duration of the band’s history (pictured in 2011)
Andrew Ranken
Ranken played drums for The Pogues for the duration of the band’s history.
After the Pogues’ initial break-up in 1996, the three remaining long-term members Stacy, Ranken and Hunt played together briefly as The Vendettas.
Ranken has gone on to play with a number of other bands, including hKippers, The Municipal Waterboard and, most recently, The Mysterious Wheels.
