He Came Up on the Dublin Busking Scene, Won an Oscar

Oscar-winning musician Glen Hansard has died in a motorcycle crash in Dublin at age 56. Police say the single-vehicle collision happened around 4:30am local time on Wednesday on the R109 thoroughfare in Lucan, near Strawberry Beds, reports the Irish Independent. Hansard was treated at the scene and pronounced dead shortly afterward. His agency said his family is "deeply shocked and heartbroken" and is asking for privacy as authorities investigate.

Hansard, who came up busking in Dublin before forming The Frames, gained worldwide recognition with the film Once and the Academy Award-winning song "Falling Slowly," co-written with Marketa Irglova. His solo album Didn't He Ramble was nominated for a Grammy for best folk album in 2016, per the AP.

A regular Christmas Eve busker for the homeless charity Dublin Simon Community and a prominent housing activist, Hansard had recently been splitting his time between Ireland and Finland with his wife, Finnish poet Maire Saaritsa, and their young child. The Irish Times offers a retrospective of Hansard's life and career in pictures.