Glen Hansard, the Oscar-winning musician who continued busking on Dublin streets until his death, has died at the age of 56.
Career and busking
The Ballymun musician's career began as a teenager busking on Grafton Street after being encouraged by his headteacher to pursue music, leaving school at 13. He later returned to the area annually for charity busks supporting Dublin's homeless.
The event started after an impromptu busk in 2010. Hansard recalled: "They were shaking the buckets and they said 'Ah how are ya Glen, give us a song', and whatever mood I was in, whatever head space I was in, I was just like, 'I can't now, if I'm coming back the street later on…'
"I went home and felt bad. I'll come into town tomorrow, I'll take out me guitar, I'll do a bit of busking and I'll make sure they'll get it, thinking they might still be on the street. They weren't on the street the day after, so I took out my guitar and started playing."
Other Irish artists including Mundy, Damien Dempsey and Imelda May joined him, raising money for the Dublin Simon Community.
Early break and The Frames
His first big break came with a role in the 1991 comedy drama The Commitments, based on Roddy Doyle's book, though he later regretted it as a distraction from music. He was frontman of rock band The Frames, who released six studio albums and supported acts like Damien Dempsey, Mundy and Paddy Casey. The band supported Bob Dylan on his 2007 tour of Australia and New Zealand.
Oscar win and later work
He is best known for the Oscar-winning song Falling Slowly, co-written with Markéta Irglová, who co-starred in the film Once, where Hansard played a busker on Grafton Street. In his Oscar acceptance speech, he urged people to "make art".
Hansard married Finnish woman Maire Saaritsa in 2022; they have a three-year-old son, Christy, and split time between Finland and Ireland. He spoke about his son on RTÉ's Late Late Show this year, saying leaving him was "the hardest bit" about touring.
He formed folk rock duo The Swell Season with Irglová. His latest release, Don't Settle, includes 22 songs spanning over three decades, with reimagined versions of work with The Frames and The Swell Season.
Activism
Hansard was a vocal advocate for homeless people, supporting Dublin Simon Community and the Peter McVerry Trust through benefit concerts, fundraising busks and campaigning on Ireland's housing crisis. He was a member of the Home Sweet Home group, which occupied an empty office block at Apollo House in 2016.
Dean Scurry, who helped lead the occupation, recalled meeting Hansard at a jazz gig and telling him about homelessness. "And he said, 'What you want to do about it?'. And I said, 'Well, you might need to walk into hell with me'. And he said, 'I'll do that, I'll do that'. And he done it in such a lovely and honest way." Scurry said Hansard started ringing philanthropists in Los Angeles and Eddie Vedder. "That's what he could do in spades, he could weave a story."
