Oscar-winning Irish singer Glen Hansard dies at 56 in motorcycle accident | Music

Glen Hansard, Irish rock singer and actor who directed the Oscar-winning Frames 2007 film OnceHe died at the age of 56.

He died in a motorcycle accident in Lucan on the outskirts of Dublin, in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Without naming him, Irish police said he was treated at the scene for his injuries but died a short time later.

Hansard won an Oscar for best original score for Falling Slowly, the centerpiece of Once, which featured Hansard opposite another real-life singer, Markéta Irglová, playing two struggling musicians in Dublin who fall in love with each other; Irglová co-wrote the song and shared an Oscar with Hansard. Once successfully converted to a stage music in 2011.

Hansard also fronted Frames, which produced six studio albums, including the 2004 Irish chart-topper Burn the Maps.

A statement from a representative for Hansard said: “Mr Glen’s family are shocked and heartbroken by this tragic loss and respectfully ask for confidentiality at this difficult time.” The family is grateful for the help they have received and would like to thank the emergency workers who arrived at the scene.

One of the people who presented the honor was Irish Culture Minister Patrick O’Donovan, who said: “There are very few artists who have had such a profound impact on contemporary Irish affairs . . .”

Hansard was indeed the story of a bus driver down on his luck: he started out on the streets of Dublin, after leaving school early.

He created Frames when he was about 20 years old, which he attributed to his love of fixing the bicycle frames he had in his back garden. His mother got a loan from a bank for her early painting: “She went to the bank manager and asked if he could finish the house,” Hansard later reported.

Encouraged by being signed to Island Records, they recruited several local musicians and released their first single Another Love Song in 1991. Island dropped them, not foreseeing the group’s growth: the following albums became very popular, and they caught the attention of recording engineer Steve Albini who oversaw 101 Birds’ first Irish album, Irish Birds. His follow-up Burn the Maps hit No 1 and their last album The Cost reached No 2.

The Cost featured the Hansard-Irglová song Falling Slowly, which the duo also covered in their duet Swell Season, which they produced away from Frames. Irglová met Hansard in her mid-teens, when her father promoted Frames’ concerts in her native Czechia, and she was invited to provide backing vocals.

The film Once was written and directed by John Carney, who played bass in Frames, and signed Irglová as one of the leads, while Cillian Murphy was engaged for the male lead. Murphy turned down the job, prompting Carney to cast the reluctant Hansard, who had previously played a role in 1991’s The Commitments.

“I don’t remember having a real relationship with the creative process during The Commitments other than showing up at the right time and speaking my lines,” Hansard revealed in 2009. “The emotional costs were very high in Once. It’s just you and your friends and if someone is in a bad mood it won’t work, so it was a matter of throwing yourself completely.”

Despite its small cast and limited budget, Once Upon a Time went on to gross more than $20m worldwide, and Falling Slowly was nominated for a Grammy in addition to its Oscar win.

The movie romance was reflected in real life, despite the age difference between Hansard and Irglová, who were 37 and 19 at the time of filming. “I fell in love with him for a long time, but I kept telling myself that he was a child,” Hansard said, Irglová says: “The friendship and connection that you see on TV between Glen and I is there, and then it grew into a deep love.”

They split in 2009, the year they released Swell Season’s second studio album Strict Joy, though the duo’s record label split in 2011 and they reunited as vocalists for their third album, 2025’s Forward. He also wrote a song in 2022, Take Heart, with Ukrainian refugees.

The Frames didn’t focus much on Hansard after their hit single – although new songs were recorded on the 2015 compilation album Longitude – and since 2012’s Rhythm and Repose, they’ve released five solo albums.

He didn’t go on to act, but he did appear as a voice actor on an episode of The Simpsons, and wrote the soundtrack for The Hunger Games.

In 2023 he had the opportunity to perform at the Pogues’ Fairytale in New York at the funeral of the group’s leader, Shane MacGowan.

Hansard is survived by his wife, the Finnish poet Maire Saaritsa, and their three-year-old son Christy. He spoke about fatherhood in a 2023 interview: “For 52 years I was the most important person in my life, and suddenly I changed, and I love it more.”

Every year, he would also visit Grafton Street in Dublin to raise money for the homeless.

Once upon a time he got an amazing second life thanks to his adaptation, written by Enda Walsh and directed by John Tiffany. It opened on Broadway in 2012 and was nominated for 11 Tony awards that year, winning eight. It also debuted in Dublin and London’s West End, and has been revived several times in international productions.