Louis, Kirsty MacColl’s son, remembers his mother on the 25th anniversary of her tragic speedboat death.
Its annual arrival on the airwaves and in shops is often the first sign of the festive season. But for Louis Lillywhite, the Christmas classic Fairytale of New York holds a more poignant meaning. He was just 14 when his mother, Kirsty MacColl – who dueted on the hit with Pogues singer Shane MacGowan – was killed in a horrific speedboat accident.
Kirsty was run over at high speed off the coast of Mexico on December 18, 2000, after she surfaced from a scuba dive, and died instantly the week before Christmas. She was 41 and at the peak of her career following the release of her acclaimed album, Tropical Brainstorm.
When the speedboat crossed the reef where they had just dived and struck them, Louis and his brother Jamie, both 15, were in the water with their mother. Jamie suffered minor injuries when his oxygen tank was clipped but their beloved mother died instantly after being struck by the boat’s propeller.
A harrowing coroner’s report revealed Kirsty had suffered significant head and chest injuries, nearly severing her left leg and part of her chest. Now as the 25th anniversary of Kirsty’s death approaches, with difficult questions remaining about the circumstances and who was to blame for the tragedy – questions that may now never be answered – Louis has poignantly spoken about his mother with the Daily Express.
READ MORE: Christmas classic Fairytale of New York by The Pogue’s almost didn’t happen
His father, Kirsty’s ex-husband, record producer Steve Lillywhite, has just released a new live version of Fairytale of New York. Now 39, a former restaurant owner living in London, Louis says: “It was such a traumatic thing and a lot of what happened is still a blur to me.
What I can say is that it was incredibly grim. I can’t remember the exact details of that trip to Mexico but I can remember being in the water and thinking, ‘ Where’s Jamie? ‘ I occasionally recall conversations between him and I, but I still recall them. It was and is so graphic. Before they let us out, we could only have spent a short while in the water. I don’t really remember too much. “
After years of holding in his pain, Louis recently underwent therapy, which he says has helped him to better come to terms with the terrible events of that day”. He continues, “You don’t want to talk to a stranger about the worst thing that has ever happened to you when you’re a 14-year-old boy,” he continues. Later on though, in my 20s, I was seeing patterns of behaviour in myself and decided I should try it. Since then, I’ve been receiving a lot of therapy, which has helped.
Apart from trying to come to terms with his mother’s tragic death, Louis says he wanted to conquer his fears around the sea. “I really struggled with swimming or going on boats or diving but I have found therapy very useful for that. I have even been snorkelling again and driven a boat,” he says. “Mum really loved the sea and she would have been gutted if I was missing out on a beautiful thing.”
His father, Steve, 70, picks up the story, revealing that Kirsty had actually wanted to be a marine biologist. When Kirsty’s musician boyfriend, James Knight, called him to tell him what had happened while he was living in New York with his second wife Patricia Galluzzi, who was not in the water with them, was also there.
It shocked me so much. I just thought, ‘ Oh s*** ‘ and was desperate to get to the boys but there were no flights that evening from New York, “he remembers”. I called Island Records owner Chris Blackwell, who gave me a private jet ride down.
“When I went into the hotel room, the boys and James, who was only 26 and closer to their age than mine, were sitting on the bed watching cartoons – no tears, just totally in shock. They have never really spoken to me about what they saw, which is so horrifying to imagine.
When they flew home to London and walked into their family home in Ealing, it really hit home. The Christmas tree was up and there were presents under it, Kirsty says. Walking back into the house in Ealing was hard but we played her music and tried to have a good Christmas”.
In 2023, the Ealing Civic Society erected a green plaque at the house and recording studio that Kirsty and the boys called home. Louis lived nearby and is still alive today. His brother Jamie, a music manager who once managed singer Ellie Goulding, lives in LA with his wife and son.
Louis continues, “It was lovely to return to the house once more to get the green plaque.” It was such a party house back then, music always playing, people coming and going all the time.
“You’d come downstairs for school and there would be Boy George sat at the kitchen table. But the new owners are lovely and have done the old place up really nicely. It is much smarter now than when we lived there.”
After their mother’s death, Louis and Jamie were raised by their mother’s boyfriend James at the Ealing family home and his father Steve. Louis says:” They did it together. We had a good time.
Steve adds:” James is a good bloke and he and Kirsty were so well suited. She found a new partner, which I was pleased to see. I still meet up with him when I am in London and we have spent Christmases together. “
Louis also celebrated his mother’s passing in May 2017 with Jean Newlove, who passed away at the age of 94, after losing his mother. Jean campaigned tirelessly for justice for her daughter”. I was very close to my grandmother, and she was a great inspiration, he claims.
” Losing a parent is one thing but losing a child is another thing entirely and my grandmother was on a mission. It gave her a purpose, and if I had to give the cause more weight, I felt compelled to do so.
The boat that killed Kirsty belonged to the family of wealthy Mexican businessman Guillermo González Nova, the owner of the Comercial Mexicana supermarket chain. José Cen Yam, a 26-year-old Nova employee, claimed he was slowing down the boat.
He was subsequently convicted of culpable homicide and sentenced to just two years and 10 months in prison. He was caught out of jail by evading a meager fine of just £61, which led to claims that he accepted compensation from his employers for the incident.
According to MacColl’s family, witnesses who claimed the boat was driven much faster than the boat’s owner claimed to have been aware of a cover-up have long been a source of contention for MacColl’s family. Their” Justice for Kirsty “campaign suspended their legal action because they had exhausted all viable appeal avenues within the Mexican justice system.
“I believe that [Yam] was the fall guy,” says Louis. “No one was really held accountable for what happened.
And he remains angry, adding: “We spent many years as a family trying to get justice. I think we managed to raise awareness and, if it saved just one person, I am happy about that, but what we would have liked was some accountability. “It was never about money, it was about someone taking responsibility.
They called us “money grabbing,” which only fueled my desire to try harder to hold someone accountable. But we were dealing with the richest man in the most corrupt country..”.
Kirsty was a member of folk music royalty. Born in Croydon, she was the daughter of Ewan MacColl, one of the prominent figures in the folk-revival during the 1960s in the UK, founding England’s first-ever folk music club, The Ballads and Blues Club.
His songs have been covered by countless artists over the years, one of the most successful being Roberta Flack’s rendition of his gorgeous ballad, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.
With a number of hits, including her rendition of Billy Bragg’s song A New England and There’s a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis, as well as collaborations with bands like The Smiths and Simple Minds, Daughter Kirsty became a popular artist in her own right.
But it was her 1987 duet with the late Shane MacGowan on The Pogues ‘ Fairytale of New York, the Christmas number one that never was (it reached number two in the charts) that secured her place in pop music history.
After Steve Lillywhite released the Celtic punks’ album, they requested a Christmas single. Taking the song home to his wife, Kirsty provided some vocals, which The Pogues loved so much they ended up keeping.
Now Steve has come full circle after Warner Bros Music asked him to produce the new live mix version. You can hear all these Scots shouting “Kirsty, Kirsty, Kirsty,” which I kept in because they loved her up there with her name and red hair, at Barrowland in Glasgow.
” Although I have never produced a Christmas number one I am not sure I want this version to go to number one. It’s about two losers, and since it’s an underdog song, perhaps it’s better if it doesn’t in some way?
Meanwhile, Louis will be 40 next year and rapidly approaching the age his mum died. He also attended the annual gathering in Soho Square in London, where die-hard fans gather to celebrate her birthday on October 10th, earlier this year.
” It was wonderful this year being the 25th anniversary and talking to all the fans about mum and her music. I leave without stopping. It helps keep her memory alive, “he says.
Soon, Louis will depart for Bali, where Steve currently resides, for the holiday season. He adds:” Mum would be annoyed that the song she is most famous for is a Christmas song, but at least it isn’t a cringe one. Fairy Tale has been playing in Irish pubs for me, and everything just turns into a party. It gives out good vibes.
“It’s a double-edged sword when one of my mother’s songs comes on the radio, but it’s always wonderful to hear her voice again. I still play her records a lot. My favorite album is Tropical Brainstorm. She was coming out of a deep depression when she wrote it and had her old verve back, which is what I am hoping for myself.
” My restaurant closed down and I split up with my girlfriend of 12 years so I am taking some time to work out what to do next. On the anniversary of her death, Dad and I will undoubtedly go out for dinner and raise a glass. I will play Fairy Tale of New York, and then again on Christmas Day and think of her as I always do. “
In 1992, Kirsty MacColl performs Fairytale of New York with The Pogues.
