Glen Hansard: The Frames, Bono, Bob Geldof, Dermot Kennedy and more pay tribute

The Frames, Bono, Bob Geldof, Billie Eilish and Dermot Kennedy are among the many musicians paying tribute to singer-songwriter Glen Hansard following his death in a motorcycle crash in Dublin, aged 56.

The Frames, formed in the 1990s by Hansard, paid tribute to their bandmate in a statement.

"Our dear brother Glen has been promoted. We first met as buskers on Grafton street 40 years ago.. since then we have shared countless musical adventures in halls and on stages across the world.

"His, was always a hand up and not a hand out. He was a doer, a man of action, an inspiring teacher," they added.

 

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Busking was an important art for Hansard, something he returned to despite playing world stages, and his love for it has been mentioned by many at his passing.

Both U2 frontman Bono and Hansard performed together regularly at the Christmas Eve busk on Dublin's Grafton Street.

"He really was who you thought he was. He could never walk by a person living rough without checking they were ok," Bono said.

"Voice of the streets. A choir of angels in one man. The rest of us blessed to stand there beside our very own and very earthed Angel Gabriel... All of us welcome in his choir, whatever shape or form.

"For me, he will always be everywhere I see a coin spinning into an open guitar case. May you rest in the peace you gave to so many."

“As soon as you start to think it’s important that your name is on the top of the bill, you’ve lost the run of yourself," Hansard said to Dermot Kennedy in Vicar Street 2014, the artist shared to Instagram.

"He put me on stages when no one else would. The sole reason I opened up my case and started to sing on Grafton Street when I was 16. He showed me nothing but kindness and support since the very beginning.

"The level of inspiration I felt watching him when I was starting out is hard to describe. So thank you Glen, for always singing like it was the last chance you’d get. We all felt it."

 

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"Glen was wonderful." Boomtown Rats singer Bob Geldof said.

"For we have lost one of the great ones. A person and a songwriter and singer and musician and performer of great depth, understanding, compassion, daring and bravado.

"Well Glen, you left us the tunes and when we play and sing and whistle them as we will, then there you'll be, alive, vital, important and brilliant as you ever were. Safe travels Glen. Miss you."

Billie Eilish along with other members of her family have all paid tribute.

"Devastated... wouldn't be who I am today without glen" Billie posted to her Instagram story.

"I saw Glen Hansard play the Grammy museum when I was like 16 or something," Finneas posted.

"He said "songs are like furniture. If you make one well enough, it'll outlive you." I think about that every single time I write [a] song. Glen should have lived another fifty years but his work would have outlived him even then. Immortal creator."

"Sometimes you get to meet your heroes and they are even more amazing than your dreams." Maggie Baird, activist and mother to Billie and Finneas reflected.

"We are Broken hearted today. Glen Hansard was a force in all of our family’s lives and when we got to first meet him at electric picnic in 2019 It was such a gift."

 

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Ed Sheeran shared that he was "heartbroken to hear the news about Glen,"

"He was such an incredible human, an incredible force. I am grateful for the times we shared together, sending so much love to his family x"

"Just heard that Glen Hansard has died. Travel on well, Buddy," The Waterboys' Mike Scott wrote on X.

"You made your dreams come true. I'm so sorry that he leaves his wife and 3-year-old child."

We are absolutely devastated to hear of the tragic passing of the incredibly talented Glen Hansard. We’re here in the rehearsal studio, and the news has completely floored us," added Aslan.

"Glen was a remarkable artist whose music touched so many lives, and his loss will be felt far and wide."

"We are in shock, speechless. Our hearts are broken for Maire, little Christy, his manager Claire, Glen’s band mates and close friends," The Stunning put in.

"The Pied Piper, the Glentertainer is gone. This is the worst news to wake up to and it feels so wrong to talk about him in the past tense already."

"Sharing in the shock and sorrow today at the news that we lost Glen Hansard," Hozier announced.

"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."

Victoria Mary Clarke, the widow of Shane MacGowan, said she was in total shock to hear about the death of The Frames frontman.

Hansard performed at the funeral of MacGowan, frontman of The Pogues, in 2023. He sang 'Fairytale of New York' alongside singer Lisa O'Neill and The Pogues.

She said he was a natural genius and incredible singer.

"From the first time we laid eyes on him in Hot Press, and heard that powerful Hansard voice, we knew that he had something utterly unique to offer. And so it proved, over and over again," recalled editor Niall Stokes.

Glen Hansard performs at Shane MacGowan's funeral: