Irish singer Glen Hansard, Oscar winner for the song “Falling Slowly” from the movie Once, has died, the singer’s management confirms to ABC Audio. He was 56.
"With broken hearts we announce the passing of Glen Hansard in the early hours of this morning,” reads a statement from ATC Management. “We are still dealing with the shock of it all, so we kindly ask that the privacy of Glen’s family, colleagues and friends is respected at this difficult time.”
According to The Irish Times, Hansard was killed in a motorcycle crash in Dublin.
Hansard, who quit school in his teens to busk on the streets of Dublin, was the founder of the Irish rock band The Frames, who released their debut album, Another Love Song, in 1991. That same year, Hansard had a role in the Alan Parker-directed film, The Commitments, playing guitarist Outspan Foster.
The Frames would go on to release seven studio albums, including 2004’s Burn the Maps, which would hit #1 in Ireland, and 2006’s The Cost, which hit #2.
In 2007, Hansard starred opposite singer Czech singer Markéta Irglová in the John Carney-directed film Once, about two struggling musicians in Dublin. The pair wrote many of the songs on the soundtrack, including the ballad “Falling Slowly,” which would go on to win an Academy Award for best original song.
Hansard and Irglová, who briefly dated, formed the band The Swell Season, releasing their self-titled debut album in 2006. Their follow-up, Strict Joy, peaked at#15 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart. They released their last album, Forward, in July 2025.
In 2011, Once was turned into a musical, featuring the music of Hansard and Irglová. It opened on Broadway in 2012, and won eight Tony Awards, including best musical. It also earned Hansard a Grammy for best musical theater album.
Hansard launched a solo career in 2012, with the release of Rhythm and Repose, which hit #21 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart. He released his most recent solo album, All That Was East Is West of Me Now, in October 2023. A natural storyteller, Hansard was known for his magnetic live performances, and released the live album, Don’t Settle (Vol. 2 Transmissions West), in June.
Hansard was also the organizer behind what became known as the Christmas Eve Busk, impromptu Christmas Eve performances on Grafton Street in Dublin to raise money for the homeless community. Started in 2010, over the years he would be joined by several of his fellow Irish musicians, including U2 frontman Bono.
In 2021, when Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder released his third solo album, Earthlings, Hansard became a member of Vedder’s backing band, dubbed The Earthlings. The pair became good friends when Vedder reached out to Hansard after a concertgoer committed suicide at a Swell Season show in Saratoga, California, in August 2020. Hansard would go on to open for Vedder several times on his solo tours, and opened for Pearl Jam on tour, as well.
In October 2022, Hansard became a first-time father, when he and his partner, poet Maire Saaritsa, welcomed a son.
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