{"id":346667,"date":"2026-03-14T23:36:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T23:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/346667\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T23:36:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T23:36:12","slug":"kate-moss-sings-secret-song-for-good-friend-shane-macgowan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/346667\/","title":{"rendered":"Kate Moss sings secret song for \u2018good friend\u2019 Shane MacGowan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two worlds collided when Shane MacGowan found an unlikely kindred spirit in the supermodel Kate Moss, with the pair often staying up all night together, carousing and lost in conversation. <\/p>\n

They formed a strong bond, according to Victoria Mary Clarke, MacGowan\u2019s widow, after being introduced through the actor Johnny Depp. Sharing many intellectual and cultural interests, MacGowan and Moss\u2019s friendship flourished, culminating in her agreeing to sing on a tribute album to the late frontman of the Pogues.<\/p>\n

MacGowan died at the end of November 2023, aged 65, following a period of poor health.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey got on really, really well because they were similar too. She\u2019s a really intelligent, really well-read, really cultured, really funny and really musical [person]. They would sit up all night talking and drinking. I would go to bed and get up, and they would still be sitting there, so a lot in common,\u201d Clarke said. <\/p>\n

A new charity tribute record<\/a> for the late Pogues songwriter called 20th Century Paddy \u2014 The Songs of Shane MacGowan will feature a diverse galaxy of musical stars and close friends. It will pay homage to the Celtic punk poet\u2019s legacy with cover versions of his most loved songs. The track listing is being kept under wraps until the album\u2019s release in November.<\/p>\n

The line-up of artists assembled by Clarke, MacGowan\u2019s partner for more than 40 years, includes Bruce Springsteen, Hozier, Jessie Buckley, David Gray and Tom Waits. <\/p>\n

While most contributors are household names in music, Moss\u2019s appearance on the album proves that the former supermodel is not just a pretty face, but a singer too. <\/p>\n

Clarke noted Moss\u2019s brief collaborations with a number of artists over the years. She described her as a \u201cnaturally talented\u201d vocalist and said MacGowan believed the model should sing more. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe stayed very good friends with her. Over the years, Kate has sung with a number of people, including Bobby Gillespie, and I saw her sing with Chrissie Hynde. But it isn\u2019t, I suppose, something that she pushes because she does her other career. It\u2019s something that I always feel that she should do more of,\u201d Clarke said.<\/p>\n

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Clarke immediately approached Moss about being part of the record but was surprised that she agreed, having contacted her in hope rather than expectation. <\/p>\n

\u201cI thought that she might be too shy. She is really shy. But no, she said yes. Off she went, and she did an amazing job. I am really, really impressed with what she\u2019s done,\u201d Clarke said. <\/p>\n

Clarke said that Moss was a \u201cloving and caring person\u201d who had been a fan of MacGowan\u2019s music since childhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen she met Shane, she was really excited. Her brother, Nick, was in the video for That Woman\u2019s Got Me Drinking. So she was there when we were shooting it. That\u2019s how we got to know her when we were shooting that. We continued, through her various other relationships with people like Pete Doherty, to hang out with her and stay friends,\u201d Clarke said. <\/p>\n

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MacGowan\u2019s songs were allocated to the various artists who agreed to Clarke\u2019s request on a \u201cfirst-come, first-served\u201d basis. Negotiations over who would get to sing what was a \u201clengthy and involved\u201d process, Clarke added. <\/p>\n

Jessie Buckley, who will find out on Sunday whether she has won a best actress Oscar for her performance alongside Paul Mescal in Hamnet<\/a>, will duet with Hozier on the record. Clarke revealed that MacGowan had been a fan of Buckley\u2019s singing but that the pair never met. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was Hozier who approached her. She is a brilliant singer. Shane was aware of her singing. He was very much a fan of her. Apart from music, Shane was really obsessed with film. He definitely had ambitions to write films, so she is a really wonderful person to have.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Jessie<\/p>\n

Jessie Buckley<\/p>\n

MYUNG J CHUN\/LOS ANGELES TIMES\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

Clarke remained tight-lipped about the track listing and would not say what song Moss sang on the record. <\/p>\n

Moss\u2019s appearance on BBC Radio 4\u2019s Desert Island Discs in 2022 provided little hint of her song choice. Her list of favourite tracks included Neil Young\u2019s Harvest Moon, David Bowie\u2019s Life on Mars and Van Morrison\u2019s Madame George, but she made no mention of the Pogues frontman.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s just got good taste in music. They would sit together and talk about music or sing together. She likes singing, and she will do it all day long. It\u2019s just getting her to do it in public that\u2019s the thing. I think she should definitely pursue it,\u201d Clarke said. <\/p>\n

Depp, who was MacGowan\u2019s best man at his wedding to Clarke in 2018, will also sing on the record. Depp\u2019s friendship with MacGowan is well documented, and the Pogues singer once described the actor as \u201cthe brother me and Vic never had\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey had so many similarities. They are very much their own people. Shane lived in his own world, and he drew on his own inspiration. He went inwards to get what he called the eternal buzz. He was never that interested in what anyone thought about his work or about him. Johnny also continues to do visual art, but also to sing and play guitar, and he\u2019s obviously doing films all the time. I think [they shared] that kind of multi-strand artistic temperament and that refusal to really be too affected by anyone else\u2019s opinion. Also, a wild imagination and wicked sense of humour.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Johnny<\/p>\n

Johnny Depp with MacGowan in 1994<\/p>\n

CHRIS GRIEVE\/MIRRORPIX\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

The couple issued a statement of support for Depp during his defamation trial against his ex-wife<\/a> Amber Heard. Clarke said the actor was an \u201cobvious choice\u201d for the album. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey had a lot of fun together. They would spend nights when you would still find them talking 24 hours after you went to bed. They both had a good capacity for drinking. They would talk about books. Johnny and Shane were both really interested in literature, particularly Irish literature. They talked about movies, about art, religion, you name it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Shane<\/p>\n

In 2018: Victoria Mary Clarke with MacGowan, Depp and President Higgins<\/p>\n

MARK STEDMAN<\/p>\n

While the contents of the album remain a secret, one track has been announced. Bruce Springsteen\u2019s cover of Rainy Night in Soho has already been released. Springsteen visited MacGowan a few months before he died and spent an afternoon with the singer before a gig at the RDS Arena in Dublin with his E Street Band.<\/p>\n

Clarke said the afternoon was unforgettable. \u201cThe last thing Shane said to Bruce was, \u2018I\u2019ll see you next time.\u2019 It was a really lovely experience to have him just sitting around having a chat for the day. They got to talk about things that they were both interested in,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cShane had been a fan of Bruce\u2019s since he was about 12 or 13. He had quite an encyclopaedic knowledge of the albums, the music, and the musicians. Bruce can talk about anything, really. He\u2019s very easy to get on with, and he\u2019s a very down-to-earth guy. In retrospect, it helped, I think, to have that memory.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Shane<\/p>\n

MacGowan with Bruce Springsteen<\/p>\n

In a social media post last week, Springsteen recalled how he \u201cstood in his warmth, kissed him and told him I loved him\u201d. Springsteen also called MacGowan one of his \u201call-time favourite singers\u201d shortly after his death. Clarke believes the pair had much in common as artists. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey are both people who have this real visceral reaction to human suffering. They can\u2019t ignore it and think about something else. They are both very sensitive and would feel they are moved by it and have to respond to it in some way,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cShane\u2019s speciality as a songwriter was not songs about himself; it was songs about other people. People who are living on the street, on drugs or alcohol, having problems with addiction, or people in wars. He did think about people and wrote about people. Bruce does the same. He\u2019s very much a protest singer. I think they both had strong feelings that music can be used for change.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two worlds collided when Shane MacGowan found an unlikely kindred spirit in the supermodel Kate Moss, with the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346668,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[321,93,61,60],"class_list":["post-346667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}