Who was Kirsty MacColl and how did the Fairytale of New York singer die?

KIRSTY MacColl and her band are remembered for giving us what's considered the greatest Christmas song of all time.

Here we take a look at the life, music, and tragic death of the singer who found fame performing an iconic duet with the Pogues.

Kirsty Anna MacColl was born in Croydon, South London, on October 10, 1959.

She was the daughter of musical parents — her father Ewan MacColl was a folk singer, and her mother Jean Newlove a professional dancer.

By the time Kirsty was born, her parents had split up, with Ewan going on to marry another folk singer Peggy Seeger.

Married life

Kirsty married music producer Steve Lillywhite in 1984.

The pair shared two children together, Jamie and Louis, but divorced in 1994.

Kirsty sang on a number of tracks produced by Lillywhite while they were married, most notably the song she’s best known for — Fairytale Of New York.

Tragic death

Kirsty died in a scuba diving accident off the coast of Mexico in December 2000.

A keen diver, the singer took her two sons on holiday for a well-needed break after a relentless 18 months of working.

The family travelled to Cozumel and it’s said Kirsty planned on introducing her two boys to scuba diving for the first time there.

While in the water, Kirsty was tragically hit by a speedboat travelling illegally in an area designated for swimmers.

A statement at the time confirmed neither of her sons were injured in the accident.

In the statement, Kirsty was described as a "bright, fun-loving person as well as a talented singer and writer who was loved by anybody and everybody she came into contact with".

Shortly after her death, her body was returned to the UK where she was cremated close to her home town of Croydon.

At the time of her death, Kirsty was just 41-years-old. 

Kirsty's singing career

Kirsty is best known for the ultimate Christmas song, Fairytale Of New York, on which she duetted with none other than The Pogues front man, Shane MacGowan.

But her musical career began long before the song hit the airwaves in 1988.

Over two decades and five albums, Kirsty recorded over 160 songs, ultimately released in an eight-disc boxset by Universal in October 2023. 

Among these tracks is A New England, a classic female rock song she recorded in her early twenties. 

A New England peaked at No7 in the UK charts in 1985, with There's A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis, reaching No14 in 1981.

She had another top twenty hit in 1989 with Days, which reached a high of No12.

Fairytale of New York

However, none of her other works reached the same status as the drunken duet, Fairytale Of New York.

Strangely, when first released the hit song didn’t even make it to the Christmas number one slot, peaking at No2.