lit a candle 7 Sept 2026Once changed how I thought about what a film could be. Simple story, true feeling. He lived that way.
Their story
Glen James Hansard was born on 21 April 1970 in Ballymun, Dublin, the second of six children of James and Catherine Hansard (nee Cahill). His father was a carpenter and fiddle player who had worked with travelling showbands; home life was musically rich and sometimes violent. Hansard left school at…
Glen James Hansard was born on 21 April 1970 in Ballymun, Dublin, the second of six children of James and Catherine Hansard (nee Cahill). His father was a carpenter and fiddle player who had worked with travelling showbands; home life was musically rich and sometimes violent. Hansard left school at 13 after a headmaster told him that if he stuck at busking he might make a living from it. He taught himself guitar, chose the confirmation name Angus after Angus Young, and learned street performance on Dublin's Northside and in the city centre.
In 1990 he co-founded the rock band The Frames, which became a cornerstone of Irish alternative music across albums including Fitzcarraldo, For the Birds, Burn the Maps, and The Cost. Parallel fame arrived early when Alan Parker cast him as guitarist Outspan Foster in The Commitments (1991). International breakthrough came with John Carney's micro-budget musical Once (2007), co-starring Czech musician Marketa Irglova. Shot quickly on consumer cameras for roughly 100,000 euro, the film and its song Falling Slowly carried Hansard and Irglova to the 80th Academy Awards, where they won Best Original Song. Hansard's speech urged the room to Make art, and host Jon Stewart later brought Irglova back to finish her remarks after the orchestra cut them short. As The Swell Season they released further albums; Hansard also issued solo records beginning with Rhythm and Repose (2012) and continuing through Didn't He Ramble (Grammy-nominated for Best Folk Album), Between Two Shores, This Wild Willing, and All That Was East Is West of Me Now (2023).
He remained a street musician in spirit: for years he led the Christmas Eve charity busk outside Dublin's Gaiety Theatre for the Dublin Simon Community, and he joined housing and anti-austerity protests, including the Home Sweet Home occupation of Apollo House. Collaborations and stages ranged from Bob Dylan support slots to nights with Eddie Vedder, Ed Sheeran, and Bruce Springsteen (including Drive All Night at Nowlan Park, Kilkenny, in 2013). He voiced a busker on The Simpsons, appeared on Parenthood, contributed music to The Hunger Games soundtrack, and later returned to film with Cyrano (2021).
Hansard and Irglova's romantic relationship ended after about two years; they remained artistic allies. In October 2022 his partner, Finnish poet Maire Saaritsa, gave birth to their son Christy; they married in December 2022 and divided time between Celbridge and Helsinki. On the evening of 28 July 2026 he played a traditional session at The Wren's Nest in Chapelizod. In the early hours of 29 July he died in a single-vehicle motorcycle crash in the Strawberry Beds area of Dublin. He was 56. Management announced the death that morning; Ireland opened books of condolence; more than 11,000 people attended a public wake at IMMA on 3 August; funeral rites followed on 4 August at St Patrick's Cathedral with musical tributes from friends including Eddie Vedder, Lisa O'Neill, Marketa Irglova, and family, ending with a group singing of Bob Dylan's Forever Young. Tributes came from Bono, Bruce Springsteen, Barack Obama, Lin-Manuel Miranda, President Catherine Connolly, Michael D. Higgins, and many peers. The family asked for donations to the Simon Community and Ukrainian Action in lieu of flowers.
Biography adapted from Wikipedia (Glen Hansard); Variety (Ellise Shafer, 2026-07-29); Billboard (Gil Kaufman, 2026-07-29); RTE News (2026-07-29 and funeral coverage); The Guardian (Robin Denselow obituary, 2026-07-31); The . Wikipedia ↗
In their own words
“Make art. Make art.”
Academy Awards acceptance for Falling Slowly, 24 February 2008 (Kodak Theatre). Source: Oscars speech database / BBC transcript.
“What are we doing here? This is mad.”
Same Oscar speech, on the improbability of a low-budget Handycam film reaching the Academy stage.
“We never thought we'd ever come into a room like this and be in front of you people.”
Oscar speech on Once's origins.
“Leonard Cohen, Van Morrison, and Bob Dylan were the holy trinity of his childhood home.”
Interview remarks summarized on Wikipedia Influences section (paraphrase of Hansard's framing of influences).
“Always positive, smiling and ready to sing.”
Bruce Springsteen tribute, Instagram, 29 July 2026.
“this most musical and mischievous archangel of Ballymun.”
Bono / U2 Instagram tribute, 29 July 2026.
Photos
4Glen Hansard at a music workshop in Uherske Hradiste, 27 July 2005
Jul 2005 · by People Forever
Glen Hansard live at Vicar Street, Dublin, 31 December 2006
Dec 2006 · by People Forever
Glen Hansard on stage in Offenbach, Germany, 24 February 2016
Feb 2016 · by People Forever
Glen Hansard with Marketa Irglova at Cool Discs, Derry, April 2006
by People Forever
He never stopped playing on the street either, even after everything. That said something.