Glen Hansard, the beloved Irish songwriter and star of Once, was killed in a motorcycle crash in Dublin on Wednesday. He was 56 years old.
Per The Irish Times, local authorities say the single-vehicle incident occurred around 4:30 a.m. local time. Hansard was treated at the scene, but pronounced deceased a short time later.
Raised in Ballymun on Dublin’s north side, Hansard credited music with pulling him away from a troubled adolescence. After discovering Bob Dylan at age 12 and teaching himself guitar, he left school and began busking on the streets of Dublin, an experience he often described as his true musical education.
Hansard first rose to prominence as the frontman of The Frames, which he formed in Dublin in 1989. Over the decades, the band built a devoted following and became one of Ireland’s most enduring and influential rock acts, known for songs such as “Revelate,” “Fitzcarraldo,” and “Headlong.”
In 1991, after accompanying a friend to an audition, Hansard landed a role in Alan Parker’s musical comedy-drama The Commitments, playing guitarist Outspan Foster. Although the film brought him sudden international recognition, Hansard later acknowledged feeling uneasy about his acting success overshadowing The Frames and the musical career he had been working to establish.
Fifteen years later, Hansard again found himself on the silver screen, this time after former Frames bassist John Carney turned Hansard’s tales of busking into an original screenplay titled Once. Hansard starred opposite Czech musician Markéta Irglová, with whom he also performed as The Swell Season. Their song “Falling Slowly” won The Academy Award for Best Original Song, while the film later inspired a Tony Award-winning stage musical.
Hansard launched his solo career with 2012’s Rhythm and Repose, which he followed up with the albums Didn’t He Ramble, Between Two Shores, This Wild Willing, and All That Was East Is West of Me Now. His most recent solo release arrived in June with Don+t Settle, a career-spanning retrospective featuring live reinterpretations of songs from across The Frames, The Swell Season, and his solo catalog.
