Oscar-winning songwriter Glen Hansard killed in crash

Oscar-winning Irish musician Glen Hansard has died in a motorbike crash in Dublin.

Hansard, 56, was the frontman for rock group The Frames and also featured in The Commitments.

He won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for Falling Slowly in 2008 which he wrote for the low-budget film Once.

Hansard was born in Dublin in 1970 and busked on its streets before landing the role of Outspan Foster in Alan Parker’s The Commitments, a 1991 film about a soul band made up of a group of working-class young people from Dublin.

He had founded The Frames a year previously.

Police are appealing for witnesses following the single-vehicle crash, which happened on Lower Road in Lucan, west of Dublin.

It was reported to the emergency services shortly before 04:30 local time.

Hansard was also one half of the rock duo The Swell Season, and released solo albums including Didn’t He Ramble, which was nominated for a Grammy for Best Folk Album in 2016.

He was the father of a three-year-old boy.

In a 2023 interview with BBC’s Radio Ulster Hansard said he was in a “very different place than I’ve ever been before” after the birth of his son eight months previously.

“It’s completely, in the greatest way possible, upturned everything that I know.”

He added: “It’s absolutely incredible, I can’t believe I stood on the other side of this chasm for so long.”

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PA Media Police officers at the scene of the fatal crash in Dublin. Two of the officers are on motorbikes and a Garda car is also visible as are two blue Garda signs — The crash happened in the early hours of Wednesday

In 2002, Hansard became the original presenter of Irish broadcaster RTÉ’s acclaimed music series Other Voices.

His charity work has included Dublin’s annual Christmas Eve charity busk in support of the Dublin Simon Community, a charity in the UK and Ireland which helps homeless people.

The busk, which Hansard started in 2010, attracted several high-profile musicians each year including Bono, Sinéad O’Connor, Imelda May and Shane MacGowan.

In a statement, the charity said it was “devastated” to learn of his death, and offered condolences to his friends and family.

“While known to many as a genius songwriter and storyteller, for us, he was threefold that, in his generosity, a true advocate for our work and a giant in the fight against homelessness,” it continued.

“He had deep respect and empathy for those navigating the challenges of homelessness and his natural warmth and compassion always shone through in those moments.

“Glen’s talents will indeed be his legacy but so too will his commitment to social justice. We will be forever indebted to him for the difference he made in the lives of the people we serve.”

Hansard’s friend, artist Colin Davidson, said the annual Christmas Eve busk had become “an international Irish institution in it’s own right”.

He said it was “Glen’s way of getting him and his friends to, not just shine a light on the problem of homelessness, but to actually do something about it financially”.

Davidson told the BBC’s Evening Extra programme that he is “quite broken” by the news of his death and is finding it “pretty difficult to find the words” for how he feels.

“He was unique… he was such an incredibly kind, loyal, warm human being who I am proud to call a friend,” Davidson said.

Source: BBC