Irish musician Glen Hansard dies at 56 after Dublin motorcycle crash

Glen Hansard, the Irish singer-songwriter best known for leading the rock group the Frames and co-starring in the 2007 film Once, died on Thursday after being injured in a motorcycle crash in Dublin. He was 56, according to his management.

Ireland’s prime minister Micheál Martin described Hansard as “a talented musician and actor who made a significant contribution to Ireland’s cultural landscape over many years.”

Hansard, born in Dublin in 1970, rose to prominence in the 1990s with the Frames, whose albums repeatedly reached the top ten of the Irish charts. He later formed the folk duo the Swell Season with Markéta Irglová, and the pair won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for “Falling Slowly” from Once, a film that later earned eight Tony Awards in its Broadway adaptation.

Beyond his recorded work, Hansard was known for frequent street busking and for organizing an annual Christmas-Eve charity busk to support Dublin’s homeless community. Musicians and actors, including Bruce Springsteen, the Mountain Goats and U2’s Bono, posted tributes. > “Sometimes I would wonder if Glen Hansard really existed. Seriously, he was such an angelic presence… He could never walk by a person living rough without checking they were OK,” Bono wrote.

Hansard’s death marks the loss of a figure who shaped Ireland’s modern music scene for more than four decades.