The Pogues’ founding drummer Andrew Ranken has died: ‘Forever a brother’
The band confirmed Ranken's passing on social media
By Nick Reilly
The Pogues have paid tribute to their founding drummer Andrew Ranken, who has died at the age of 72.
Ranken joined the band in 1983 and was credited on all of the band’s official recordings, all the way from their seminal 1984 debut Red Roses for Me to 1996’s Pogue Mahone.
“Andrew, thank you for everything, for your friendship, your wit and your generosity of spirit, and of course for the music, forever a true friend and brother,” they wrote on social media.
“Our thoughts and love are with his family at this sad and difficult time.”
A cause of death is yet to be announced, but he had suffered with ill health over the years and had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He released a song in 2023 raising money for charity in support of St Joseph’s Hospice in Hackney.
Ranken began playing drums at the age of 14 and met Pogues founders Shane MacGowan and Jem Finer in their renowned Kings Cross stomping ground, where he was asked to join the band. He turned down the offer due to his commitments as lead singer of The Operation, but later reconsidered and became the group’s long term drummer in 1983.
In later life, he headed up The Mysterious Wheels, described by his publishers as a Blues, Country, Rock and Roll, and all-around fantastic band.
Paying tribute, Siobhan MacGowan, sister of the late Shane MacGowan, said: “Andrew was such an important part of the story. A band brother and unbelievably talented and unique drummer. May he rest in peace.”
It comes after MacGowan died in November 2023 at the age of 65. The Pogues were best known for their enduring 1987 Christmas hit ‘Fairytale of New York’, a duet with the late Kirsty MacColl, but endured themselves to millions around the globe through albums such as the seminal 1985 record Rum, Sodomy & the Lash and 1988’s If I Should Fall from Grace with God.
They reunited without MacGowan or Ranken last year to mark 40 years of Rum, Sodomy & the Lash. Original members James Fearnley, Jem Finer and Spider Stacy took part in that tour, joined by an array of guest singers including Nadine Shah and members of Fontaines D.C.