Irish singer-songwriter Glen Hansard, best known for winning an Academy Award for the film Once, has died in a motorcycle crash on the outskirts of Dublin. He was 56.
The crash happened in the early hours of Wednesday, July 2, 2026, in Lucan, west of Dublin. Gardaí said a man in his 50s was involved in a single-vehicle motorcycle collision just before 4:30 a.m. He was treated at the scene but pronounced dead shortly afterward.
Hansard’s management, ATC Management, later confirmed it was him. In a statement to Irish broadcaster RTÉ, they said the family was “deeply shocked and heartbroken” by his sudden death.
He started as a busker on the streets of Dublin as a teenager. With just a guitar and his voice, he built a following long before anyone knew his name. That raw, lived-in sound would define his entire career.
His first break in film came in 1991 when he played Outspan Foster, the guitarist in the Dublin soul band in The Commitments. But it was 16 years later that the world really took notice.
In 2007, Hansard starred alongside Czech musician Markéta Irglová in the low-budget Irish musical Once. He played “The Guy,” a street musician trying to make it in Dublin. Irglová played “The Girl.” There was no big budget, no studio polish. Just two musicians, a piano, and songs written from real heartbreak.
The film’s centerpiece, “Falling Slowly,” won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2008. When Hansard and Irglová performed it at the Oscars, barefoot and visibly nervous, it became one of the most quietly powerful moments in the ceremony’s history.
That win turned Once from an indie darling into a global phenomenon. It later became a Tony-winning Broadway musical.
He was the longtime frontman of The Frames, the Dublin rock band he formed in 1990. With them he released albums that became staples of Irish rock, known for their intensity and honesty.
He was also half of The Swell Season, the duo he formed with Irglová after Once. Their tours were intimate and unpredictable, built around harmonies and stories between songs.
Later, Hansard went solo. His 2015 album Didn’t He Ramble earned a Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album. He kept touring, kept writing, and kept returning to the streets in a way. Every Christmas Eve for years, he led the famous charity busk outside Dublin’s Gaiety Theatre. Musicians, fans, and strangers would gather in the cold to play and listen, with all proceeds going to homeless charities. It became a Dublin tradition.
Former Irish President Michael D. Higgins called Hansard “a wonderful musician and performer” with “a gift for storytelling” who “placed great emphasis throughout his life to the importance of tackling the problems of society, including regular work in drawing attention to the problem of homelessness.”
In 2023, Hansard performed a rousing version of The Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York” with Lisa O’Neill at the funeral of Shane MacGowan. The church, filled with mourners, ended up singing and swaying. It was classic Hansard — turning grief into music, and music into community.
“A talented musician and actor who made a significant contribution to Ireland’s cultural landscape over many years,” Martin wrote on X.
Fans online shared clips of busking sessions, Once performances, and Frames gigs. For many Irish people, Hansard wasn’t just a celebrity. He was part of the soundtrack of Dublin itself.
From busking on Grafton Street to holding an Oscar, from The Frames to Once to solo stages around the world, Hansard never lost the directness that made people stop and listen. He sang like someone who had lived every word.
And for a country that prizes storytellers, Ireland has lost one of its best.as Higgins put it, Hansard had a gift for storytelling. On Wednesday morning, that voice was silenced on a road outside the city where it all began
