DUBLIN — Irish musician Glen Hansard, who won a best original song Oscar in 2008 for the indie film “Once” and was lead singer for rock group The Frames, died in a motorcycle crash at the age of 56 early on Wednesday, his management company said.
Fans paid tribute online and Prime Minister Micheál Martin said he was deeply saddened to hear of the death of “a talented musician and actor who made a significant contribution to Ireland’s cultural landscape over many years.”
The singer-songwriter began busking on the streets of his native Dublin as a teen before forming the popular Irish band The Frames in 1990.
He released a number of albums under his own name and as part of duo The Swell Season with fellow Oscar winner and “Once” co-star Marketa Irglova.
The pair’s performances in the low-budget movie shot on handheld camcorders where a street musician falls in love with a young Czech immigrant, and their Oscar-winning duet “Falling Slowly,” brought Hansard’s music to a wider audience.
The film, which featured a number of other songs composed and performed by Hansard and Irglova, was turned into a hit Broadway musical version that won eight Tony Awards in 2012.
Accepting his Oscar from presenter John Travolta, a stunned Hansard said: “What are we doing here? This is mad.”
His only acting experience before “Once” was as a band member in Alan Parker’s 1991 hit “The Commitments.”
“With broken hearts we announce the passing of Glen Hansard who passed away, in the early hours of this morning, following a road-traffic accident in Dublin,” ATC Management said in a statement that thanked emergency services.
Irish police said a man in his 50s had died after a single-vehicle motorcycle collision in the west of Dublin. Emergency services were alerted shortly before 4:30 a.m., and the man was pronounced dead a short time after being treated at the scene.
