Glen Hansard, the Dublin-born singer-songwriter whose ballad “Falling Slowly” won him an Academy Award, died early Wednesday morning (29 July, 2026) in a motorcycle crash on the outskirts of Dublin. Hansard starred alongside Markéta Irglová in “Once,” a low-budget Irish film about a busker and a Czech immigrant who write music together. Hansard and Irglová performed together as The Swell Season, releasing several albums that carried the same raw, unpolished intimacy as “Once” itself. Hansard released his debut solo album, “Rhythm and Repose,” in 2012, after touring alongside Eddie Vedder. Bruce Springsteen posted that “here on E Street, we are heartbroken,” remembering Hansard as “a great musician, a good friend and a generous and gracious man.”