Bruce Springsteen, Bono and Finneas O’Connell are among the musicians remembering Glen Hansard.
The Irish singer-songwriter, who co-wrote the Oscar-winning “Falling Slowly” from Once, died in a motorcycle crash early Wednesday morning near his native Dublin. He was 56.
The death of the Frames frontman has sparked a number of tributes from across the entertainment industry.
Bono penned a lengthy essay about Hansard, beginning, “Sometimes I would wonder if Glen Hansard really existed…”
He then recalled his kindness and busking past, writing in part, “He really was who you thought he was. He could never walk by a person living rough without checking they were OK… and more than that, he worked very hard so that less people had to live on the streets in the first place.”
In closing, Bono returned to his view of Hansard as an “angelic presence.”
“And I’m telling myself this morning that if he never existed, then he can never cease to exist,” he wrote. “For me, he will always be everywhere I see a coin spinning into an open guitar case.”
Springsteen, meanwhile, recalled meeting Hansard in Ireland “many years ago.”
“He was always nothing but a great musician, a good friend and a generous and gracious man,” he wrote on social media. “Always positive, smiling and ready to sing.”
Finneas O’Connell remembered how “Falling Slowly” was the first song he ever performed onstage, at the age of 11.
“His songs made me want to write songs and they also made me cry,” O’Connell wrote. “When our family met him in Dublin in 2019, he greeted us like old friends even though we were just his fans. Today I am a heartbroken fan. Hope he knew how much he meant to so many, this is how much he meant to me.”
O’Connell’s mom Maggie Baird shared that their entire family was saddened by the death of someone who “was a force in [their] lives” adding that she’s “devastated for his family and for all of us who were so changed by him.”
“When we first saw the movie Once it affected us also profoundly. I know Finneas and Billie would not be who they are without his music,” she wrote. “Finneas first performed publicly singing Falling Slowly, Billie sang all the songs from the movie, we went to see him talk and perform at The Grammy Museum in 2013 and were blown away. I made my film inspired by that beautiful movie. I got to see him at the Greek last fall and it was such a joy and I know he had so many shows planned and a three year old! He was a thrilling human to be in the presence of I hope you have a little inkling of what he meant to people. I know it’s a very hard thing to feel and taken I doubt that he really knew, but he was such a gift I’m so so sad. I’m so grateful for what he brought to the world.”
Searchlight Pictures, which released John Carney’s Once, wrote on its social media that it was “devastated by the loss.”
“A singer and actor of singular talent, his melodies gave voice to first love, first heartbreak and many milestones in between for a generation of filmgoers,” the message continued. “Our thoughts are with his family and friends. He will be missed by us all.”
Lin-Manuel Miranda referred to Hansard as a “once in a lifetime songwriter” and said he was, “grateful for the music we got” but “greedy for more.”
And Josh Groban called him an “absolute gem of a man. As pure an artistic soul as they come and a spirit of kindness that always took precedence over his immense talent.”
Fellow Irish musician Hozier also posted an extended tribute to Hansard.
“Glen’s legacy reaches far beyond that of an Irish or Dublin musician who’s work became beloved globally; he was a uniquely central feature and vessel of Irish story telling on both stage, screen and street for as long as many of us can remember,” he wrote. “Glen is so indelibly tied into the life and breath of Irish music, and particularly the city of Dublin, that it feels utterly surreal to imagine that he could be gone from us now. His beautiful work was an inspirational component of my own and so many other’s upbringing and adult life, as was his consistent kindness, support and advocacy. This was a man who gave a remarkable amount of himself to song itself, to his shows, to the city he loved and to a community of musicians who loved and admired him dearly.”
Read on to see what Hollywood is saying about the late singer-songwriter.