Siobhan MacGowan (born in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

, England in 1963) is an Irish journalist and musician. She is the sister of

Shane MacGowan Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan (born 25 December 1957) is an Irish singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known as the lead singer and songwriter of Celtic punk band the Pogues. He was also a member of the Nipple Erectors and Shane MacGo ...

, lead singer of the Irish group

The Pogues The Pogues were an English or Anglo-Irish Celtic punk band fronted by Shane MacGowan and others, founded in Kings Cross, London in 1982, as "Pogue Mahone" – the anglicisation of the Irish Gaelic ''póg mo thóin'', meaning "kiss my arse". T ...

The Pogues

When The Pogues started out as "Pogue Mahone" in the early 1980s, MacGowan designed posters and flyers to advertise their gigs. She also worked for The Pogues in 1988, editing and writing their fanzine, 'Ordnahone'.

Music

In 1988, MacGowan moved to

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, Ireland and formed a band called The Frantic. The Frantic performed MacGowan's songs around such venues as The Rock Garden, The Baggot Inn and the Olympia Theatre. She also supported

Hazel O'Connor Hazel Thereasa O'Connor (born 16 May 1954) is a British singer-songwriter and actress. She became famous in the early 1980s with hit singles " Eighth Day", " D-Days" and " Will You?" She also starred in the 1980 film '' Breaking Glass''. Care ...

('' Breaking Glass'') on an Irish tour and Mary Coughlan at the Mean Fiddler in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. In 1992, her video, ''Chariot'', was shown on MTV on Christmas Day. In 1997, she recorded her album, ''Chariot'', for Murgatroid Records, Limerick, which was released in Ireland and the UK in April 1998. She performed at the

Point Theatre The Point Theatre (sometimes referred to as the Point Depot or simply as the Point) was a concert and events venue in Dublin, Ireland, that operated from 1988 to 2007, visited by in excess of 2 million people. It was located on the North Wall Q ...

in Dublin with

The Dubliners The Dubliners were an Folk music of Ireland, Irish folk band founded in Dublin in 1962 as The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group, named after its founding member; they subsequently renamed themselves The Dubliners. The line-up saw many changes in personn ...

and Shane MacGowan on Christmas, 1998. She worked as

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan Morrison (born 31 August 1945), known professionally as Van Morrison, is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose recording career spans seven decades. He has won two Grammy Awards. As a teenager in t ...

's personal assistant from 1992-1994, travelling the United States and Europe with him. In 2002, MacGowan released a second edition of the album ''Chariot'', containing a bonus track: 10. I love him with a Grace

Journalism, press and copywriting

MacGowan worked at the Kent & Sussex Courier (

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

) as a copywriter for their advertising pages. She freelanced for various London and Kent based advertising agencies, writing articles for ''Smash Hits'', ''Record Mirror'', and ''FSM Monthly''. She has worked as a freelance journalist, writing for ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'', ''The Sunday Times'' and ''Mizz Magazine''. In 1994, she moved to

County Tipperary County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after th ...

(Ireland) and worked for the Tipperary NR Council Arts Office. She has also undertaken art commissions, Celtic/funky art, under the name of "Cat MacZebedee". Her story for children, ''Etain's Dream'', was serialised in the 'Nenagh Guardian'. Her debut novel, THE TRIAL OF LOTTA RAE was published by Welbeck in May 2022. Her second novel, THE GRACES, is due to be published in June 2023.

Other work

She has acted in

Patrick Bergin Patrick Connolly Bergin (born 4 February 1951) is an Irish actor and singer perhaps best known for his leading role opposite Julia Roberts in ''Sleeping with the Enemy'' (1991), the title character in Robin Hood (1991 film), terrorist Kevin O ...

Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

trilogy, ''Countess Kathleen''.

External links

Official website

Twitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macgowan, Siobhan 1963 births Living people British children's writers British women singers British journalists 21st-century British novelists British people of Irish descent People from Brighton The Irish Times people