Glen Hansard, the beloved Irish musician who had a special connection to Chicago, died early Wednesday morning in Dublin following a motorcycle accident.
Hansard was killed in a single-vehicle crash in his home city of Dublin, according to the BBC. He was 56.
ATC management, which represented Hansard, posted to Facebook Wednesday morning: “With broken hearts we announce the passing of Glen Hansard in the early hours of this morning. We are still dealing with the shock of it all, so we kindly ask that the privacy of Glen’s family, colleagues and friends is respected at this difficult time.”
The Irish musician lived in the North Center neighborhood in the early 2000s.
“It was a special time for us, and Chicago became my home,” Hansard said March 31 while performing at Space in Evanston.
During his time living here, Hansard and his band, The Frames, worked with famed audio engineer Steve Albini, who died in 2024, at his Electrical Audio studio on West Belmont in the Avondale neighborhood.
Chicago native Rob Bochnik became Hansard’s longtime guitarist.
Michael Cameron, owner of Uncommon Ground, a North Side restaurant and music venue, said that he invited Hansard to perform a solo show at his venue in the late ’90s to introduce him to people from Chicago’s music industry who packed his small 50-seat venue.
The idea was the brainchild of Zoran Orlic, a friend and Chicago area music photographer who was traveling with The Frames.
Cameron became good friends with Hansard, and was hoping Hansard would be a surprise guest this Saturday at a show featuring a number of Chicago musicians playing Hansard’s music as part of a celebration of Uncommon Ground’s 35th anniversary.
“The logistics just didn’t make sense so he couldn’t come. But I had a reminder in my phone to reach out to him today and have him send a video message we could play at the show. But when I woke up this morning my phone was blowing up and we learned what happened and my wife and I both were sobbing.”
Several of the musicians slated to take the stage have played with Hansard and were his friends, Cameron said.
“We’re going to pause that show for now. Everything is just too raw. Everyone is devastated, so we’ll give it a day or two and I’ll reach back out to everyone and see what they want to do,” he said.
Hansard dropped out of school at 13 to begin busking on the streets of his hometown of Dublin. He formed The Frames in 1990.
His career was thrust to new heights following the 2007 release of the film “Once” which starred Hansard and Czech singer Markéta Irglová as struggling musicians.
The song “Falling Slowly” from the movie’s soundtrack won the 2008 Academy Award for Best Original Song, the film was adapted into a Tony Award-winning stage musical, and Hansard and Irglová, who for a time had a real life romantic relationship, performed as Swell Season at venues across the world, including Chicago.
Hansard has played Chicago many times.
He reunited with Irglova for an emotional show at Cadillac Palace Theatre in 2022.
In 2024 he played the Salt Shed and later that year he played at Wrigley Field as an opener for Pearl Jam. Hansard would also moonlight as one of the Earthlings in Eddie Vedder’s solo project.
The Frames played all over Chicago at venues including Metro, Schubas and even the old Abbey Pub in 2002.
Bruce Finkelman, managing partner of 16 on Center, which operates a number of music venues, including Space, Thalia Hall and Salt Shed, said Wednesday that Hansard had a naturally friendly and warming presence.
“He was well loved in the Chicago music scene, and for all intents and purposes, it felt like he was part of it,” Finkelman said, noting that Hansard’s previous longtime manager was Chicagoan Howard Greynold.
Hansard was also an investor in Thalia Hall, a music venue in Pilsen that opened in 2013, Finkelman said.
One of Hansard’s first connections to Chicago was through the late folk musician Jason Molina, who lived in Chicago and performed as Songs: Ohia.
The way the two men met is a tale from a different era, Hansard told NPR Music in 2015.
Hansard was touring with The Frames when he bought a Songs: Ohia album in Alabama, listened to it for the rest of the tour and wrote a letter to the P.O. Box he saw on the packaging.
“I didn’t even know if this band existed anymore. I wasn’t sure if it was a current band, if it was an old band — because it was before the days of being able to look it all up,” Hansard told NPR Music. “And I wrote the letter to this address, saying, ‘If you ever wanted to tour in Ireland, I would be so happy to host you with my own band.’ And he got back! He said, ‘Hello, I’m Jason, it’s my record you bought — and yeah, let’s do it.'”