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“His songs made me want to write songs – and they also made me cry” Music world pays tribute to Glen Hansard following fatal motorcycle accident

July 30, 2026

The music world is mourning the loss of Glen Hansard, the Irish songwriter, Frames frontman and Oscar-winning musician, who has died aged 56 following a motorcycle accident in Dublin.
Hansard’s management confirmed the news in a statement, saying: “With broken hearts we announce the passing of Glen Hansard in the early hours of this morning [29 July].”
“We are still dealing with the shock of it all, so we kindly ask that the privacy of Glen’s family, colleagues and friends is respected at this difficult time.”
Hansard first made his name after forming Irish rock band The Frames in 1990, before reaching an international audience with his acting debut in Alan Parker’s musical-comedy The Commitments. His biggest breakthrough came with the 2007 film Once, in which he starred opposite Marketa Irglova. The pair – who also recorded together as The Swell Season – won the Academy Award for Best Original Song with Falling Slowly, bringing Hansard’s songwriting to a much wider audience.
Beyond The Frames and The Swell Season, Hansard enjoyed a successful solo career, with 2015’s Didn’t He Ramble earning a Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album. Just last month, he released the second instalment of his latest project, Don’t Settle (Vol. 2 – Transmissions West).
Hansard is survived by his wife, Finnish poet Maire Saaritsa, and their three-year-old son Christy.
As news of his passing broke, tributes have poured in from across the music world.
Singer-songwriter Finneas reflected on the profound impact Hansard had on him from a young age: “Glen Hansard. North Star songwriter, most wonderful person. The first song I ever got on a stage to perform was Falling Slowly when I was 11,” he wrote.
“His songs made me want to write songs and they also made me cry. When our family met him in Dublin in 2019, he greeted us like old friends even though we were just his fans. Today I am a heartbroken fan. Hope he knew how much he meant to so many, this is how much he meant to me.”
Bruce Springsteen also remembered meeting Hansard in Ireland “many years ago”.
“He was always nothing but a great musician, a good friend and a generous and gracious man,” Springtsteen wrote. “Always positive, smiling and ready to sing.”
In a lengthy tribute, U2’s Bono described Hansard as an “angelic presence” and “a most musical and mischievous archangel of Ballymun”.
“Of all the grand and gigantic venues he and The Frames played, you sensed the street was his most favoured place to perform. And street people, his favourite audience,” he wrote. “I’m telling myself this morning that if he never existed, then he can never cease to exist. For me, he will always be everywhere I see a coin spinning into an open guitar case.”

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Producer Andrew Watt, who played alongside Hansard in Andrew Vedder’s ‘Earthling’ solo band, also paid tribute, expressing gratitude for the time they spent together: “You will never be forgotten. How lucky was I to spend as much time both on and off the stage with you?…studios, dressing rooms, bathroom floors, long car rides, guitar stores…your ability to move people with that bellowing Irish tenor of yours is unparalleled.”
Read more tributes below.

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