Shane MacGowan (born December 25, 1957) is best known as the original singer and songwriter with The Pogues, and is considered one of the most important and poetic Irish songwriters of the last thirty years. MacGowan drew on his Irish heritage to create The Pogues, a band that he founded, but from which he was away during a long hiatus in the 1990s. Many of his songs are influenced by Irish nationalism, Irish history, the experiences of the Irish in London and in London life in general.