Shane was born on Christmas Day in Kent, when his parents were visiting relatives. They lived in Puckhaun, county Tipperary, Ireland. His mother was a great singer and traditional dancer and had worked as a model in Dublin. His father was very interested in literature and writing. They lived in a big farmhouse with until Shane was six, when they moved to London. In 1971 he got a schoolarship and was accepted into a top public school. Shane was caught in posession of drugs and was kicked out after a year. One of his friends at the time was Berni France, later in The Popes.
In 1976 he sawThe sex Pistols and became part of the punk movement. The same year he made the papers for the first time. Shane was up front at a Clash gig and a girl cut him in the side of the head with a broken bottle. Someone took a photo and the picture of him covered in blood made the papers. They wrote that he had got his ear bitten off and that turned Shane into a semi-legend at the time.
Shane, who had rechristened himself Shane O'Hooligan, worked in a record store. He created his own fanzine called "Bondage" and formed the group Nipple Erectors with his friend Shanne Bradley (later in The Men They Couldn't Hang.). Their first single was "King Of The Bop" (1976) and it was produced by Stan Brennan, Shane's employer in the record store. They changed their name to The Nips and recorded three more singles.
The line-up was changing all the time and included guitarist James Fearnley (later in The Pogues) and drummer Jon Moss (later in Culture Club). They were support acts for The Clash and The Jam. Paul Weller of The Jam liked them a lot and produced the single "Happy Song". The Nips broke up at the end of 1980 and released a live album called "Only The End Of The Beginning".