Oscar winner Glen Hansard, ‘Once’ star and ‘Falling Slowly’ songwriter, dies in motorcycle crash at 56

Glen Hansard, the Oscar-winning Irish musician whose career spanned music, film and theatre, has died following a motorcycle crash in County Dublin. He was 56. The single-vehicle accident occurred in the early hours of Wednesday, with emergency services responding to the scene. His death was later confirmed by his management, which requested privacy for his family.

Hansard rose from busking on the streets of Dublin to become one of Ireland’s most celebrated singer-songwriters. He first gained prominence as the frontman of the rock band The Frames before achieving worldwide recognition through the 2007 independent film Once , in which he starred opposite Markéta Irglová. Together, the pair wrote and performed Falling Slowly , which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2008 and became one of the defining movie ballads of the century.