Glen Hansard: Meeting heroes and the tape that changed his life

The decease of Oscar-winning Dublin songwriter Glen Hansard in a motorbike clang successful the city connected Wednesday has been met with wide daze and grief.

The 56-year-old, who changeable to prominence erstwhile helium was formed successful 1991 philharmonic drama movie The Commitments, was long-time frontman of stone set The Frames.

From Bono to Bruce Springsteen, tributes person poured successful from astir the satellite for the father-of-one, with stories shared of his beingness and impact.

Originally from the working-class Ballymun country of Dublin, Hansard near schoolhouse astatine 13.

Here's a look of immoderate of the singular aspects of his beingness successful euphony and film.

It each started with a guitar and a tape.

In an interview with Irish broadcaster RTÉ successful February, external, Hansard said the instrumentality near successful his location by an uncle who had gone to situation and a Bob Dylan cassette changed the way of his life.

Ballymun was 1 of Dublin's astir economically deprived areas successful the 1980s, deed hard by unemployment, transgression and cause addiction.

"I was connected a benignant of a trajectory of getting into the drugs - lone mildly - getting dense into drinking, precise young, opening to benignant of interruption into things, conscionable getting into that somewhat dodgy spot," helium said

He was fixed a cassette of Bob Dylan by his girlfriend's brother.

"I listened to Bob Dylan and everything, similar my full satellite conscionable went into the other - flipped," helium said.

"I stayed successful the bedroom, I played Bob Dylan songs each day, I learned my craft, I decided euphony was each I cared about.

"So that was a existent turnaround for me, it was a beingness changer and I abruptly had my path."

He said helium was besides fortunate that his headmaster astatine schoolhouse encouraged him down the way of music, with Hansard saying helium told him: "I can't warrant you'll beryllium famous, but if you commencement now, past you'll ever beryllium capable to unrecorded from your guitar."

He formed The Frames and signed his archetypal grounds woody successful 1990, the aforesaid twelvemonth helium became portion of the formed of The Commitments.

It's unusual to accidental astir idiosyncratic who was a instrumentalist done and through, but - whether by destiny oregon mishap - Hansard ended up appearing successful 2 of the biggest films successful Ireland's history.

Alan Parker's 1991 film, The Commitments, tells the communicative of the emergence and autumn of a psyche set made up of young working-class Dubliners.

Hansard played the relation of guitarist Outspan Foster, contempt not primitively auditioning for the part.

"I conscionable showed up with my friend, we had been up each night," he told the XS Noise podcast, external earlier this year.

"He went for the audition and I sat extracurricular waiting for him."

Hansard said they were astir to permission erstwhile helium was asked if helium wanted to work for a part.

"They said you've got reddish hair, you play guitar, you acceptable the measure for this quality that we're casting.

"So I went successful and I work a fewer lines and I'd nary occupation with the accent due to the fact that I'm from the northbound broadside of Dublin - truthful I'm a northsider, I play guitar and I've got reddish hair, I benignant of acceptable the bill.

"So they gave maine a callback and overmuch to my astonishment I got the part."

The movie was an improbable hit, going connected to execute cult status.

He described the acquisition arsenic "incredible, it was a beauteous experience".

"It's bittersweet for maine that radical person said to maine 'I've heard you didn't bask the acquisition with The Commitments' - I loved it, I had an implicit ball.

"I conscionable benignant of felt it didn't specify maine and that was my small spot of resistance."

Incredibly, the reluctant histrion went connected to prima successful different seminal Irish film.

Hansard won his Oscar for for the opus Falling Slowly from the 2007 movie Once, which helium besides starred successful alongside Markéta Irglova.

Again, it was a relation helium wasn't primitively assigned to play.

Director John Carney had earmarked Irish histrion Cillian Murphy for the role.

"He's rather a bully singer. I thought I'd bash the accustomed happening wherever you get a bully histrion who tin fractional sing and bid that voice, but past it became wide to everybody connected the movie that we should bash it the different mode around," Carney said successful an interrogation with American movie quality website CHUD. , external

"We should get idiosyncratic who could truly sing and fractional enactment and I'll spot that I would beryllium capable to bash thing magical with that."

He turned to his person Hansard, who had co-written the euphony for the film.

As good arsenic Bob Dylan - who helium would conscionable a fig of times - different of Hansard's philharmonic heroes was Belfast's Van Morrison.

Hansard said his archetypal gathering with Morrison was a alternatively awkward 1 erstwhile helium was 19 oregon 20 astatine the star's day enactment astatine a subordinate of the Guinness family's home.

As Morrison jammed successful the kitchen, Hansard said his petition for 1 of his songs was met with a gruff effect from Morrison.

Later, astatine his friend's urging, Morrison passed his guitar to Hansard to play past promptly walked retired of the room.

"I'm reasoning 'the lone feline I privation to really sing to is gone'," Hansard told Kevin Pollak's Chat Show., external

Morrison returned during Hansard's 2nd opus and past asked the Dubliner to play the opus helium had requested earlier, earlier joining successful singing it.

The 2 past went upstairs and took turns playing their songs to each other.

"I'm getting to beryllium and observe a maestro astatine enactment up close," Hansard said.

"We passed the guitar backmost and distant and I ran retired of songs aft an hr and a fractional and Van kept going and going."

He said arsenic Morrison was leaving astatine the extremity of their jam league helium said: "Nice voice, bully songs, blah, blah, blah."

Speaking to BBC's Radio Ulster successful 2023 Hansard talked astir gathering different legendary philharmonic figures.

"Up successful the precocious saccharine aerial of that universe, it's precise tiny and there's precise fewer radical and they're each making interaction with each other," helium said.

"For example, I was astatine immoderate of [former Pearl Jam singer] Eddie [Vedder's] sessions that were happening successful Los Angeles and Ringo [Starr] came successful and played drums, Stevie Wonder came successful and played drums.

"Morrissey dropped successful astatine 1 constituent and Iggy Pop dropped in.

"There's conscionable this benignant of spot wherever there's ne'er a question of however tin I get that guy's telephone fig - everybody up astatine that level seems to person each other's contacts."

In the aforesaid interview, Hansard said his parent was a immense Beatles instrumentality and came precise adjacent to gathering her heroes successful the aboriginal 1960s.

"My parent climbed into the backmost of the Adelphi Cinema successful Dublin - her and 2 of her mates - to spot the Beatles," helium said.

"They managed to get into the Beatles dressing room, they didn't cognize they were getting into the dressing room.

"And seemingly they got up the corridor and [John] Lennon said: 'Hey mate, there's 3 much implicit here' and the girls each got kicked out.

"She ever dined retired connected this communicative and she ever called Paul McCartney Paul McCarty. But she adored The Beatles."

For the past 15 years, Hansard had organised an yearly Christmas Eve busking gig to rise wealth for homelessness charities.

He persuaded galore Irish stars, including Sinead O'Connor and members of U2, to articulation him successful busking for currency successful cardinal Dublin.

Pat Green, of the Simon Community said the busk became "a contented connected the calendar" successful the city.

He told BBC News NI's Good Morning Ulster programme connected Thursday that Hansard had been motivated by a "sense of guilt and shame" during a metropolis centre buying travel astatine Christmas 2009.

"He was walking down Grafton Street himself with bags of presents and helium passed a radical of carol singers singing for the stateless and the Simon Community and they asked him to articulation in," Green explained.

"And helium was busy, helium was distracted and helium said: 'No, I can't.' And helium got location and it was past helium realised determination was nary worldly worth to the Christmas presents that helium bought - that the greater worth was retired connected the street, bringing joyousness and happiness to radical implicit Christmas.

"So, helium went backmost retired and started to busk with virtually the headdress connected the ground."

He said Hansard and different stars "have raised collectively – with Glen the person – good implicit €2m (£1.7m) for stateless services that we supply present successful Dublin's Simon."

Hansard was a long-time person of Shane MacGowan, the precocious pb vocalist of the The Pogues.

Following MacGowan's decease successful 2023, MacGowan's widow Victoria Mary Clarke entrusted Hansard with the relation of "musical director" of her husband's funeral.

Speaking to the Irish vigor presumption Today FM, external connected Wednesday, Clarke recalled however their person stepped successful to help.

"I said: 'Glen, would you beryllium capable to bash thing astatine the funeral?" she recalled.

"And helium said: 'Look, if you don't mind, I'll bash everything. I'll organise, I'll get each the euphony together, you don't person to worry.'"

MacGowan's send-off featured performances from Australian vocalist Nick Cave arsenic good arsenic a 'who's who' from the Irish euphony scene, including singer-songwriters Imelda May, Declan O'Rourke and Mundy, Hothouse Flowers frontman Liam Ó Maonlaí and Hansard's ain set The Frames.

There were besides readings from U2 vocalist Bono, Boomtown Rats vocalist Bob Geldoff and Irish histrion Aidan Gillen.

"As radical who watched it volition testify, helium did an unthinkable job, perfectly incredible, and successful a abbreviated abstraction – 24 hours – helium pulled that together," Clarke said.