Irish musician Glen Hansard, who won a Best Original Song Oscar in 2008 for the indie film Once and was lead singer for rock group The Frames, died in a motorcycle crash at the age of 56 yesterday, his management company said.
Bruce Springsteen, whom Hansard shared a stage with, said he and his band were heartbroken at the death of a “great musician, a good friend and a generous and gracious man.”
Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin described him as an artist “who made a significant contribution to Ireland’s cultural landscape.”
The singer-songwriter began busking on the streets of his native Dublin at the age of 13 after dropping out of school, and formed The Frames in 1990. The band’s popularity at home helped make their lead singer a fixture on the Irish music scene for the next four decades.
U2 frontman Bono paid tribute to Hansard in a post on X, describing him as “a smiling rascal if you needed him to be ... this most musical and mischievous archangel of Ballymun.”
Bono said Hansard “could never walk by a person living rough without checking they were OK,” and praised his work to help reduce homelessness.
“Voice of the streets. A choir of angels in one man,” Bono said.
Hansard released a number of albums under his own name – receiving a Grammy nomination in 2016 – and as part of duo The Swell Season with fellow Oscar winner and Once co-star Marketa Irglova.
Hansard is survived by his wife, Maire Saaritsa, and their three-year-old son Christy.
&uuid=(email))