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Musician Glen Hansard’s Dublin roots detailed after fatal crash
Developed over time first seen 4 months ago
Glen Hansard, the Irish singer-songwriter behind The Frames and Swell Season, has died at the age of 56 following a motorcycle crash near his home in Dublin. His management agency, ATC, confirmed the death in a statement, saying the family was still "dealing with the shock of it all" and asking for privacy, while Irish police said a man in his 50s died in a single-vehicle collision in Lucan, Dublin, at around 4:30am on Wednesday 29 July. Hansard was best known for winning the Oscar for best original song for "Falling Slowly", from the 2007 film Once, a tribute that has drawn attention to a songwriting career spanning more than four decades.
Born Glen James Angus Hansard in the Dublin suburb of Ballymun on 21 April 1970, he left school at 13 to busk before being signed by Island Records, where he formed The Frames and released albums including 1992's Another Love Song, 1999's Dance with the Devil and 2002's Breadcrumb Trail. He also appeared in the 1991 film The Commitments, and in 2006 formed Swell Season with Czech singer-songwriter Markéta Irglová, with whom he starred in and wrote the songs for Once; the pair's Oscar-winning ballad "Falling Slowly" later featured in a Broadway adaptation that won eight Tony Awards in 2012, including best musical.
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In short
- Musician Glen Hansard died aged 56 in a Dublin motorcycle crash.
- He won an Oscar for "Falling Slowly" from the film Once.
- Career spanned The Frames, Swell Season and a Tony-winning musical.
How this story developed
- 4 months ago Coverage was confirmed to centre on his death after a motorcycle crash near Dublin, adding that he had shared a 2013 Grammy for the Once musical's songwriting alongside the earlier Oscar and Tony Award details.
- 4 months ago New details on Glen Hansard's life and career emerged following confirmation that the Irish singer-songwriter had died at 56 in a motorcycle crash near his Dublin home, with his agency ATC citing family shock and appealing for privacy.
Explained simply
Glen Hansard was a Dublin musician, best known as the frontman of the rock band The Frames and for his role in the 1991 film The Commitments. He later teamed up with musician Markéta Irglová to write and perform songs for the 2007 film Once, which won them an Academy Award for the song "Falling Slowly" and was later turned into an award-winning Broadway musical.
Born in the Dublin suburb of Ballymun in 1970, Hansard began his career as a teenage busker on the city's streets before signing a record deal in his twenties. Over four decades he built a body of work across The Frames, the duo project Swell Season with Irglová, and a solo career, becoming one of Ireland's best-known songwriters.
He has died at the age of 56 following a motorcycle crash near his home in Dublin. His management agency has asked for privacy for his family while further details of the crash are established.
Coverage · 2 sources
Read the full article at the source →
Originally published by Billboard as “Glen Hansard, Oscar-Winning ‘Once’ Singer-Songwriter Dies in Motorcycle Crash at 56”.