Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan (25 December 1957 – 30 November 2023) was an English-born Irish musician, best known as the co-founder, frontman, and chief songwriter of Celtic punk band the Pogues. MacGowan's songs were influenced by Irish history, Irish nationalism, the Irish diaspora, and London life.

Born in Kent, England, to Irish parents, MacGowan spent his early childhood in Tipperary, Ireland, before returning to England aged six and a half. Noted for his precocious interest in literature—by age 11, he was reading authors including Fyodor Dostoevsky and James Joyce—he attended Holmewood House preparatory school and won a scholarship to Westminster School, but was expelled from the latter for possession of drugs. In 1977, he joined the punk band the Nipple Erectors. In 1982, he co-founded the Pogues, which fused punk influences with traditional Irish music; he features on the band's first five studio albums, released between 1984 and 1990, including the critically acclaimed and commecially successful If I Should Fall from Grace with God (1988). He co-wrote the Christmas hit single "Fairytale of New York" (1987), which the Pogues recorded with Kirsty MacColl.

During a 1991 tour, MacGowan was dismissed from the Pogues due to the impact of his drug and alcohol dependency on the band's live shows. He subsequently formed a new band, Shane MacGowan and The Popes, with which he recorded two studio albums. In 2001, MacGowan rejoined the Pogues for reunion shows, and remained with the group until it dissolved in 2014. He also produced solo material and collaborated with artists such as Joe Strummer, Nick Cave, Steve Earle, Sinéad O'Connor, and Ronnie Drew. He received a 2018 Ivor Novello Inspiration Award and a Lifetime Achievement Award. Following years of deteriorating health, MacGowan died of pneumonia at his Dublin home in November 2023, aged 65. The president of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, paid tribute, calling him "one of music's greatest lyricists."