Glen Hansard, the Dublin-born songwriter who won an Academy Award for the film Once, died in a single-vehicle motorcycle crash in Dublin on Wednesday. He was 56. Police were called to the scene around 4:30 a.m., and are appealing for witnesses to the crash, according to the BBC and Variety.

Hansard's path to an Oscar was one of the unlikeliest in the ceremony's history. He quit school at 13 to busk on Dublin's Grafton Street and formed the rock band The Frames in 1990. A year later, he appeared as guitarist Outspan Foster in Alan Parker's The Commitments, a BAFTA-winning film that brought him his first international attention.

Then came Once. Written and directed by John Carney, the 2007 micro-budget film starred Hansard and Czech pianist Markéta Irglová as two musicians who meet and write songs together over a few days in Dublin. Hansard and Irglová composed and performed all of the film's original music and toured together as the folk duo The Swell Season. Their song "Falling Slowly" won the Oscar for best original song at the 80th Academy Awards in 2008, beating nominees from the year's biggest studio productions.

Hansard never stopped working. His official website, carrying a 2026 copyright, was still promoting tour dates and new music. Just eight days before his death, on 21 July 2026, his Facebook page posted about upcoming concerts across Finland, Sweden, Germany, Ireland, and Italy for the remainder of the year. His Instagram was advertising an exclusive 2026 US and Canada tour T-shirt.

The dates on sale for the rest of 2026 will now go unplayed. Hansard is survived by his family; further details have not been released. Dublin police continue to investigate the circumstances of the crash.