It doesn't seem fair that Glen Hansard's life should end at the age of 56.
Fans of the Oscar winning Irish singer-songwriter, activist and occasional actor will feel cheated by his shock death in a motorbike accident because, even with his stellar career, it seemed he had much so more to give.
Born in Dublin in 1970, music was in Glen's veins.
Originally from the working class neighbourhood of Ballymun, his love affair with the artform began when an uncle left a guitar in the house.
Getting into the music of Bob Dylan, he spent many hours in his home perfecting playing the legendary singer-songwriter's classics.
At the age of 13, he started busking around Dublin and playing in bands -while immersing himself in the music of Dylan, Van Morrison, Leonard Cohen, Bruce Springsteen and Pearl Jam.
One of his contemporaries as a teenager was the future movie director John Carney who played bass guitar and who he would later recruit as a member of his band, The Frames.
Leaving school early, Glen learnt his craft as a musical performer and songwriter on the streets of Dublin alongside friends like Mic Christopher and Karl Odlum, who was an original member of the folk band Kila and who he would form The Frames with.
Glen would tell RTE Radio One's Brendan O'Connor in February 2026 that his headmaster actually encouraged him to leave school and learn his craft by busking.
Gigging around Ireland, The Frames were part of a confident post-U2 music scene in the country that saw acts like The Hothouse Flowers, The Saw Doctors, The Stunning, Luka Bloom, The 4 of Us, Aslan, Something Happens, The Frank and Walters, Brian Kennedy, The Divine Comedy and The Sultans of Ping FC emerge.
The Frames got their name from Hansard's habit of offering to fix bicycles for his friends.
In a 2001 interview, Glen revealed he had worked at one stage on a bicycle repair shop and as a result his back garden was full of bicycle frames.
When it came to choosing a name, The Frames was a natural choice because he was known as the guy who "lives in the house with the frames".
However he was to come to wider attention when he landed the part of the bassist Outspan Foster in Alan Parker's 1990 movie of Roddy Doyle's comic novel 'The Commitments' about a Dublin band playing soul music.
Co-starring alongside Robert Arkins. Andrew Strong, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Bronagh Gallagher, Angeline Ball, Johnny Murphy and Colm Meaney, he brought a hint of cynicism to the role of Outspan, as the film rocketed to success at the UK and Irish box office on the back of enthusiastic critical reviews.
The film was a minor hit in North America but movie stardom didn't really appeal to him.
In fact, Glen found it a bit of a distraction from his music career.
He returned to The Frames, scoring chart success in his homeland with the 1996 album 'Fitzcarraldo' which spawned classic songs like the title track and the electric opener 'Revelate'.
There was more Irish chart success for the band with the albums 'Dance The Devil' in 1999, 'For The Birds' which went Top 6 in 2001, 'Burn The Maps' which went to the top slot in 2004 and 'The Cost' which rose to Number Two in 2006.
The Frames and Glen Hansard, in particular, were notorious for championing up and coming Irish artists like Mundy, David Kitt and Damien Dempsey.
But the band also landed a support slot to his beloved Bob Dylan on a New Zealand and Australian tour in 2007.
When his good friend Mic Christopher died tragically in an a fall at the age of 32 while touring in 2001 with The Waterboys in the Netherlands, Hansard was central to efforts to release the singer-songwriter's debut album 'Skylark' posthumously.
Glen would frequently perform live Christopher's great song 'Heyday,' which would later be used in a Guinness ad featuring an up and coming Michael Fassbender.
In 2003, he had a brief stint as a music show presenter as the original host of the RTE2 live music performance show 'Other Voices' which brought Irish and international artists to the Co Kerry village of Dingle for a unique festival.
He left, however, after one series.
In 2006 after The Frames made a bit of a breakthrough in North America by landing a slot on Lollapalooza, Glen got involved in a side project as a member of The Swell Season which was a collaboration with Marketa Irglova, the Finnish violinist Marja Tukhanen and the French cellist Bertrand Galen.
Around the same time, John Carney persuaded him to act once more in his 2007 romantic, low budget musical drama 'Once' with Irglova about two struggling buskers who creatively click in Dublin.
Hansard had encouraged Carney to get into filmmaking while they were in The Frames, noting he had a flair for it.
Taking his friend's advice to heart, Carney left the band to pursue a career making movies and enjoyed limited success with the Irish made films 'November Afternoon,' 'Park' and 'On The Edge' which starred Cillian Murphy and Stephen Rea in 2001.
His biggest success was on the small screen, with a cult Celtic Tiger era RTE2 comedy drama 'Bachelor's Walk' which ran for three series.
'Once' was based on anecdotes that Glen had told Carney about his experiences as a busker.
The role of Guy had been originally earmarked for Cillian Murphy who was also due to produce.
Murphy passed on the project when he realised he would be acting opposite Irglova who was 17 and had no experience of acting.
The Corkman also felt his singing voice couldn't do justice to Hansard's songs and so Carney turned to Glen.
Initially reluctant to star in another film, Glen came on board when Carney gave him a creative say in how it was made, agreeing to make an intimate arthouse picture.
With a skeleton crew and a miniscule budget, Carney and his cast shot the movie over 17 days when Marketa was 19 in a realist style using real Dublin locations and natural light.
Long lenses were used on the streets of the city by the cinematographer Tim Fleming to disguise the fact that they were making a feature because the production did not have the proper permits.
Eighteen years Marketa's senior, romance blossomed on the set between Glen and her which Carney suspected would happen.
A rough cut was screened at the Galway Film Fleadh in July 2006.
However the film was turned down by several high profile European film festivals.
'Once' landed a slot at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2007 where it picked up the audience award, pulling off the same feat at the Dublin Film Festival a month later.
Propelled by strong word of mouth, 'Once' was championed by American critics and it also started to attract a lot of buzz in movie industry circles, with Carney starting to notice stars like Ben Stiller praising it.
It got a further boost when Steven Spielberg said "a little movie called 'Once' gave me enough inspiration to last the rest of the year."
Now firmly on Hollywood's radar, the movie and its soundtrack picked up film and record industry accolades.
Carney's film won Best Foreign Film at the Independent Spirit Awards, while the intimate duet 'Falling Slowly' was nominated for Best Original Song at the Critics Choice Awards and then, the Academy Awards winning at both ceremonies.
Clutching his Oscar after a memorable performance of the song, Hansard told the ceremony with George Clooney in the front row: "This is mad.
"We made this film two years ago. We shot it on two Handycams. It took us three weeks to make.
"We made it for a hundred grand. We never thought we'd ever come into a room like this and be in front of you people.
"It's been an amazing thing. Thanks for taking this film seriously - all of you. It means a lot to us.
"Thanks to the Academy. Thanks to all the people who have helped us. They know who they are. We don't need to say them.
"This is amazing. Make art! Make art! Thanks."
'Once' would get a second lease of life as a musical on Broadway penned by the Irish playwright Enda Walsh.
The original production in 2007 with Steve Kazee and Cristin Milioti in the lead roles scooped eight Tony Awards and also earned him and Irglova a Drama Desk Award for Best Lyrics and a New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical
Not only was 'Once' a success on Broadway and in US touring productions but it enjoyed strong runs on the West End where he and Irglova won an Olivier Award in 2014 for Outstanding Achievement in music, in Toronto, Dublin, Seoul, Buenos Aires and Piltochry on Scotland where the actor Alan Cumming commissioned a revival of it in 2025.
Hansard and Irglova's romance petered out after two years but they would remain friends, delivering a second The Swell Season album 'Strict Joy' in 2009 and reforming 16 years later with an acclaimed third album 'Forward' and a tour.
In 2009, he and Irglova sent themselves up by guest starring in an episode of 'The Simpsons' called 'In The Name of the Grandfather'.
In 2011, the Tribeca Film Festival premiered American filmmakers Nick August-Perna, Chris Dapkins and Carlo Mirabella-Davis' acclaimed documentary about the group 'The Swell Season' which captured the strains that the success of 'Once' and extensive touring put on Irglova and Hansard's relationship.
Described by film critics as "painfully honest," it was released on DVD in the US and UK and was released in Australia, South Korea, Canada, Germany, Spain, Austria and Switzerland.
In the wake of 'Once,' Glen enjoyed a high profile in Europe and the United States as a solo recording artist with a series of albums that included 'Rhythm and Repose" in 2012, 'Didn't He Ramble' in 2015, 'Between Two Shores' in 2018, 'This Wild Willing' in 2019 and 'All That Was East is West of Me Now' in 2023.
There was an appearance in filmmaker Frank Berry's documentary 'Ballymun Lullaby' in 2011 which focused on composer Darragh O'Toole and music teacher Ron Cooley's collaboration on a music project that gave voice to the experience of children living in the infamous high rise development in Dublin.
2013 saw the Conor Masterson documentary 'The Frames: In Deep Shade' which explored the legacy of Hansard's band, drawing upon footage from their 20th anniversary tour.
In 2015, The Frames reformed and went back into the studio to record the album 'Longitude' in 2017.
He would record a cover of Bruce Springsteen's 'Drive All Night' in 2013 with Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder and tour with him.
In a bid to support the track which was too long to feature on the talk show 'Late Night with David Letterman' gave him a 'Live On Letterman' CBS and Vevo webcast gig, where he memorably blended Springsteen's song with the Celtic wake song 'The Parting Glass'.
Glen would get to perform the song with his idol, Springsteen live in Nowlan Park Stadium in Kilkenny in 2013.
Vedder and Hansard also co-wrote and performed many of the songs for Sean Penn's 2021 drama 'Flag Day' with the director playing an ex-con, his real life daughter Dylan playing his onscreen daughter, Josh Brolin and Eddie Marsan.
Also featuring two songs by Cat Power, the movie drew lukewarm reviews and struggled to find an audience.
Glen had previously contributed songs to 'Begin Again' - his friend John Carney's well received 2013 follow-up to 'Once' with Keira Knightley, Mark Ruffalo, Catherine Keener, James Corden and Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine which performed well in cinemas on a modest $8 million budget
He co-wrote the superb closing song 'Go Now' for Carney's acclaimed 2016 Dublin rock band musical drama 'Sing Street' with the director and Levine who sang it on the soundtrack.
In 2014 during Irish President Michael D Higgins' state visit to the UK he had a central role in the Ceilluradh at the Albert Hall - a celebration of Irish music and literature broadcast on BBC4 which featured Dermot O'Leary and Fiona Shaw and where he led Elvis Costello, Imelda May, Paul Brady, John Sheehan, Lisa Hannigan and The Villagers' Conor J O'Brien in raucous renditions of the Irish folk classic 'The Auld Triangle' and 'The Parting Glass'.
There was a rare appearance in a movie in a cameo role as a guard alongside the US singer-songwriter Sam Amidon in Joe Wright's critically acclaimed, if commercially disappointing 2021 version of 'Cyrano' (de Bergerac) which featured Peter Dinklage, Hayley Bennett, Kelvin Harrison Jr and Ben Mendelsohn in the main roles.
Every Christmas Eve, Hansard played a central role in organising a busk to raise money for the Simon Community's work with the homeless which over the year featured artists like Bono and The Edge of U2, Sinead O'Connor, members of The Pogues, Imelda May, Liam O Maonlai of The Hothouse Flowers, Christy Dignam of Aslan, Danny O'Donoghue of The Script and up and coming artists like The Coronas, The Riptide Movement and Aaron Day.
The COVID pandemic interrupted the run of Christmas Eve busks with Hansard organising a web version and also a version on RTE's 'Late Late Show' fronted by Ryan Tubridy.
Hansard featured prominently in David Letterman's 2023 Disney+ documentary 'Bono and The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming' in which the former talk show host took in the sights and sounds of Dublin, interviewing Glen about U2's influence on other Irish artists.
The Frames frontman also performed with the U2 stars.
He was to the fore as well in leading musical tributes to The Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan, memorably performing 'A Rainy Night in Soho' on RTE's 'The Late Late Show' hosted by Patrick Kielty.
He also led a raucous version of 'The Fairytale of New York' with members of The Pogues, Lisa O'Neill and John Sheehan at MacGowan's funeral in Nenagh, Co Tipperary which triggered impromptu dancing in the aisles.
Three years ago, Glen became a dad with his partner, the Finnish poet Maire Saaritsa giving the birth to a baby boy, Christy and they subsequently married.
This gave him an immense sense of joy which Shane MacGowan's girlfriend Victoria Mary Clarke claiming she had never seen such a doting dad.
Still passionate about music, he broke away from family life in February 2026 to advocate for support for independent, small music venues in Ireland during a visit to the iconic Co Cork music venue de Barras in Clonakilty, as a way to help new artists hone their craft.
In his last few weeks of his life, he got to perform at Trinity College Dublin and was planning in the autumn 2026 to tour Scandinavia, Germany, Ireland and Italy as well as playing a Blues and Rock Festival in Sao Paolo.
His death in an early morning motorcycle accident in July 2026 robbed audiences of those gigs and sent shockwaves through the music and wider entertainment industry
Tributes poured in from Bruce Springsteen, Bono, Ed Sheeran, Mike Scott of The Waterboys, the actor Chris O'Dowd, Irish President Catherine Connolly, the author Roddy Doyle, Ireland's Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Micheal Martin and the Dublin Simon Community.
Among those Irish traditional music advocate and broadcaster Philip King best summed up Hansard's passion for music.
"He was a Pied Piper," King observed.
"He was a person who knew every piece of music that was knocking around in Ireland. He was an enthusiast for it."
Bono described him as a "smiling rascal" who had an "angelic presence."
Noting how when the crowds attending the Christmas Busk ballooned Hansard was adamant it still needed to be performed on the street, the U2 frontman said: "Of all the grand and gigantic venues he and The Frames played, you sensed the street was his most favourite place to perform and street people, his favourite audience.
"For me, he will always be everywhere I see a coin spinning into an open guitar case."
Performance was everything to Glen Hansard whether it was on the street, in concert venues or a TV studio.
And while we feel cheated by his untimely death, at least all of us have a treasure trove of footage of him doing what he did best - playing music with sheer joy.
(Glen Hansard passed away at the age of 56 in Dublin on July 29, 2026)
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