Glen Hansard, the Irish singer-songwriter who won an Academy Award for the song “Falling Slowly,” was laid to rest on Tuesday at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin. He was 56.
Hansard died in the early hours of July 29 following a motorcycle crash at Strawberry Beds in Lucan, on the outskirts of Dublin. Irish police have not released further details on the crash or opened a public inquiry into its cause.
More than 40,000 people watched Tuesday’s funeral service online, according to organizers, as mourners gathered inside the cathedral to remember a musician widely regarded as one of Ireland’s own. Fellow musicians led tributes throughout the service. U2 frontman Bono read the lyrics to the band’s song “A Beautiful Day” and shared a voice note from singer Patti Smith, who could not attend in person. Members of Hansard’s longtime band The Frames also spoke.
Hansard first reached international audiences through the 2007 film “Once,” a low-budget Irish musical drama in which he starred alongside Czech singer Marketa Irglova. He wrote and performed the film’s soundtrack, and the pair later dated for a period after filming. Their song “Falling Slowly” won the Academy Award for best original song at the 2008 ceremony, beating out entries from bigger-budget productions and turning the two little-known musicians into overnight stars.
Hansard’s career began decades earlier as a busker on Dublin’s Grafton Street before he formed The Frames in 1990, a band he fronted for more than three decades alongside a solo career that produced several studio albums. He continued to tour into his fifties and remained closely associated with the city where he was born and where Tuesday’s public wake and funeral took place.
Tributes from the wider music community continued through the week, with fans gathering outside the cathedral and leaving flowers and handwritten notes referencing his songs. Irish broadcasters carried extended coverage of the service, and details on any additional memorial events had not been announced as of Tuesday evening.
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