AceShowbiz - Shane MacGowan has passed away. The Pogues frontman - who is famous for his festive single "Fairytale of New York" - has died at the age of 65 following a string of health issues, his wife Victoria Mary Clarke has announced.

Victoria - whom he married in 2018 after 11 years together - feels "blessed beyond words" to have had him in her life for so long. She wrote on Instagram alongside a photo of Shane, "I don't know how to say this so I am just going to say it."

"Shane who will always be the light that I hold before me and the measure of my dreams and the love [heart emoji] 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 [eart emoji] 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 [seven heart emojis] You meant the world to me (sic)."

Meanwhile, Shane's Pogues bandmate, Peter "Spider" Stacey has paid a sad farewell to his "captain." Sharing an image of the "Dirty Old Town" singer on stage, he wrote on X, "O Captain! My Captain! Our fearful trip is done.."

And Irish premier Leo Varadkar praised Shane for having "beautifully captured the Irish experience" in his songs. He posted, "Sorry to hear that Shane McGowan has passed. He was an amazing musician and artist. His songs beautifully captured the Irish experience, especially the experience of being Irish abroad."

The sad news comes just a week after he was discharged from hospital after spending months in intensive care. Victoria posted a picture of a smiling Shane on X, and wrote in the caption, "Shane got out of the hospital! We are deeply and eternally grateful to all of the doctors and nurses and staff at St Vincent's it's the best ! And special thanks to Tom Creagh and Brian Corscadden for your help @ShaneMacGowan @poguesofficial (sic)."

The "Dirty Old Town" hitmaker was diagnosed with viral encephalitis - a deadly infection that can cause brain damage and life-threatening complications - last year, and had been receiving care at St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin, Ireland.

Shane - who had used a wheelchair since 2015 after fracturing his pelvis in a fall and later damaging his knees - first formed his own punk band, The Nipple Erectors, later the Nips, and made a demo produced by Paul Weller.

He and bandmade John Hasler left the group in the early 1980s to form Pogue Mahone with members of the Millwall Chainsaws and later changed their name to the Pogues, receiving rave reviews for their debut album, 1984's "Red Roses for Me".

Shane was fired from the band in 1991, a year after their fifth album "Hell's Ditch" was released, after failing to turn up for concerts during a tour of Japan.

He went on to form Shane MacGowan and the Popes before joining a full Pogues reunion in 2001, with the band staying together until 2014. His last album was with The Popes, "The Crock of Gold", in 1997 but since 2015, he had been working on another album with the Irish band Cronin.

Copies of his art book, 'The Eternal Buzz and the Crock of Gold', were sold for £1,000 each to help raise funds for his care.