Glen Hansard, star of the 2007 musical drama “Once” and Oscar-winning singer-songwriter, died in a motorbike crash in Dublin on Wednesday. The Irish musician, who also served as one half of the folk duo The Swell Season, was 56.
Police are investigating the single-vehicle crash after it was reported at 4:30 a.m. local time, according to the BBC.
Hansard came to Hollywood prominence as the star of John Carney’s romantic musical drama “Once,” for which he wrote or co-wrote most of the songs. He and his costar, cowriter and Swell Season partner Marketa Irglova won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for “Falling Slowly” in 2008.
Before that, he starred in Alan Parker’s 1991 film “The Commitments,” about working class musicians in Dublin. He also won a Grammy Award in 2013 for Best Musical Theater Album for the stage adaptation of “Once,” writing the music and lyrics alongside Markéta Irglová.
The musician was previously the frontman of Irish rock band The Frames, releasing six studio albums together in the 1990s. As a solo artist, his second album “Didn’t He Ramble” was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Folk Album in 2015.
Hansard honed his craft after leaving school at the age of 13 and busking on the streets of Dublin.
Among the tributes posted on social media, Bruce Springsteen wrote, “Here on E Street, we are heartbroken over the death of Glen Hansard. We met in Ireland many years ago and he was always nothing but a great musician, a good friend and a generous and gracious man.”
Fellow Dubliner Bono wrote, “A smiling rascal if you needed him to be … this most musical and mischievous archangel of Ballymun … no airs, plenty of graces.”
Hansard is survived by his wife, poet Maire Saaritsa, and their son who was born in 2022.
