GLEN HANSARD, THE Oscar-winning songwriter and lead singer with Dublin band The Frames has died aged 56.
He died in a road crash at the Strawberry Beds near Lucan in West Dublin the early hours of this morning.
Hansard and his group were a key part of the Irish music scene throughout the 1990s and 2000s, with their radio-friendly indie songs becoming staples of alternative rock radio shows and stations.
They performed widely across the country, making regular appearances at major music festivals like Oxegen and Electric Picnic.
His 2008 Oscar win for the song ‘Falling Slownly’ brought him to a new level of fame and new audiences, which he parlayed into a successful career with frequent solo tours across Ireland, Europe and North America.
Early breakthrough
After earning his musical chops as a busker, Hansard first came to prominence in the early 1990s through his role as guitarist Outspan Foster in the Dublin-set hit movie The Commitments.
He combined forces with a group of other Dublin-based musicians, including violinist Colm Mac Con Iomaire and John Carney, now a successful film director, around the same time.
The group had a number of Irish hits throughout the 1990s, with the driving guitar track Revelate amongst their best knowns from their early career.
Songs like Rent Day Blues and Star Star, from the 1999 album Dance the Devil, were inescapable to anyone tuning into the likes Ray D’Arcy’s daytime Today FM show or Dave Fanning on 2FM in the early-2000s.
The group toured extensively across Europe and the US, but never achieved a major international breakthrough to mirror the success of the likes of U2 or The Cranberries.
It was the movie Once, directed by his old bandmate Carney, that brought Hansard his greatest success. The film’s soundtrack album, with all songs written by Hansard and his co-star Marketa Irglova, was a huge seller internationally and earned the pair the Oscar for the ballad Falling Slowly in 2008.
Alongside his musical career Hansard was a prominent homelessness activist and charity fundraiser. He led a Christmas Eve busk to raise money for the Simon Community for the last 15 years. The event became a staple of the season in Dublin, with the likes of Bono and Imelda May becoming frequent guest stars.
He was also a prominent supporter of the Apollo House occupation in 2016, when a group of activists took over a vacant office block in central Dublin to provide temporary emergency accommodation and raise awareness of homelessness.
Hansard released a new single, High Hope, earlier this summer and played a solo concert as part of the recent Trinity Summer Series just this month.
