Glen Hansard

Glen Hansard
Background information
Born	21 April 1970 (1970-04-21) Ballymun, Dublin Ireland
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, actor
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, mandolin
Years active	1983–present
Labels	Plateau, Overcoat Recordings, Island
Associated acts	The Frames, The Swell Season, Markéta Irglová
Website	www.theframes.ie

Glen Hansard, live at Vicar Street, Dublin, 31 December 2006

Hansard and Markéta Irglová playing at record store Cool Discs in Derry, Northern Ireland in April 2006

Glen Hansard (born 21 April 1970 in Dublin, Ireland) is the Academy Award–winning principal songwriter and vocalist/guitarist for Irish group The Frames and one half of folk rock duo, The Swell Season. He is also known for his acting, having appeared in the BAFTA winning film The Commitments, as well as starring in the film Once.

His song "Falling Slowly" from Once, co-written with Markéta Irglová, won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2007, and earned him ten other major nominations or awards between 2007 and 2008.

Career

Hansard quit school at age 13 to begin busking on local Dublin streets. He formed The Frames in 1990, and they've been staples of the Irish music scene ever since. Their first album, Another Love Song, was released on Island Records in 1991, and their most recent, The Cost, was released in 2006.

He first came to international attention as guitar player Outspan Foster in the 1991 Alan Parker film The Commitments, after attending the New York Film Academy School of Acting. He has often stated that he regretted taking the role, because he felt it distracted him from his music career.

In 2003, he presented the television programme Other Voices: Songs from a Room, which showcased Irish music talent on RTÉ. On 22 April 2006, he released his first album without The Frames, The Swell Season, on Overcoat Recordings in collaboration with Czech singer and multi-instrumentalist Markéta Irglová, Marja Tuhkanen from Finland on violin and viola, and Bertrand Galen from France on cello. Hansard also spent part of 2006 in front of the cameras for a music-infused Irish film Once, in which Hansard plays a Dublin busker, and Irglová an immigrant street vendor. The film had its American premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007 and received the Festival's World Cinema Audience Award. During the promotional tour, he and Irglová began dating. Said Hansard about his relationship with Irglova: "I had been falling in love with her for a long time, but I kept telling myself she's just a kid". One of the songs they wrote together for the film ("Falling Slowly") won an Oscar for Best Song in February 2008. Hansard became the first Irish-born person to win in that category.^{[citation needed]} Hansard and Irglová also recorded a version of Bob Dylan's "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" for the film I'm Not There in 2007. In 2009, Hansard said that he and Irglova were no longer romantically linked, and that they are now "good friends".

Aside from his projects with The Frames and Irglová, Hansard also took part as a member of the band on the 2006 Oxfam charity album, The Cake Sale. In addition, Hansard has recorded a few cover songs, both alone and with band member Colm Mac Con Iomaire, for the Today FM discs Even Better than the Real Thing. Songs that he has recorded include Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me a River" on Vol. 1 and Britney Spears' "Everytime" on Vol. 2.

Outside music, he appeared on a Simpsons episode as a street musician in Ireland. A new album of original songs recorded as The Swell Season with Markéta Irglová and entitled Strict Joy was released on October 27, 2009 on the ANTI- record label.

On August 14, 2009, Hansard sang "Amazing Grace" at the funeral of Eunice Kennedy Shriver. In December 2009, Glen was joined by Bono, Damien Rice and other Irish musicians on Grafton Street in Dublin, to busk in aid of the Simon Community. In January 2010, Glen and fellow musician Mark Geary auctioned off a house concert on eBay in aid of Haitian relief after the catastrophic earthquake left the country in dire need of assistance. The pair would travel anywhere within a 2 hour drive of Dublin and play a private gig in the highest bidder's house. In the end the two musicians played for the highest bidder and a selection of other fans in a central Dublin cafe. The auction raised in the region of €6,000 (six thousand euro) for charity.

In the summer of 2011, he joined Eddie Vedder on his American solo tour in support of Vedder's solo album, Ukulele Songs. He also played his own solo concert at the opening of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art Guitar Heroes exhibit in May and on Cape Cod at the Cape Cinema on June 17. On September 3 and 4 2011, Glen played at Pearl Jam's 20th Anniversary Festival PJ20 at Alpine Valley Theatre outside of East Troy, WI.

Hansard plays a Takamine NP15 acoustic guitar, which is named "The Horse".

In a recent interview in the Huffington Post with Irglova, it was revealed that Hansard was preparing a solo album and that there was a very possible third release from the Swell Season.

Influences

Hansard has remarked about his musical influences: "In my house, when I was a kid, there was the holy trinity, which was Leonard Cohen, Van Morrison and Bob Dylan with Bob sitting center." Hansard and The Frames toured as the support act for Bob Dylan in Australia and New Zealand in August 2007 and Hansard often performs Van Morrison's songs in concert. Two such songs include "Into the Mystic", and "And the Healing Has Begun" which were included on the collector's edition of the soundtrack for the film Once.

Awards and nominations

Awards

• Academy Award 2008 Achievement in Music Written for a Motion Picture (Original Song) - "Falling Slowly" from Once"Awards for Glen Hansard". IMdb. 2010. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0360598/awards. Retrieved 5 May 2010. 
• Critics' Choice Award 2008 Best Original Song - "Falling Slowly" from Once
• Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award 2008 Best Original Score - for Once

Nominations

• Grammy Award 2008 (50th Annual Grammy Awards) Best Song Written for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media - "Falling Slowly" from Once
• Grammy Award 2008 (50th Annual Grammy Awards) Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media - Once

Discography

The Frames

Albums

• Another Love Song (1991) (Out of production, though available for download from iTunes)
• Fitzcarraldo (1995) (as The Frames DC)

• Fitzcarraldo (1996)
• Dance the Devil (1999)
• For the Birds (2001)
• Breadcrumb Trail (2002) (live album)
• Set List (2003) (live album)
• Burn the Maps (2004)

• The Cost (2006)

Singles and EPs

• "The Dancer" (1991)
• "Masquerade" (1992)
• Turn On Your Record Player EP (1992)
• Picture of Love (1993)
• Angel at My Table (1994)
• "Revelate" (1995)
• "Monument" (1996)
• I am the Magic Hand (February 15, 1999)
• Pavement Tune (1999)
• Rent Day Blues EP (1999)
• Come On Up to the House (1999—Compilation featuring "Star Star" by The Frames)
• Lay Me Down (2001)
• Headlong (2002)
• The Roads Outgrown EP (2003)
• "Fake" (September 12, 2003)
• "Finally" (August 20, 2004)
• "Sideways Down" (January 28, 2005)
• "Happy" (Radio Single Only – 2005)
• "Falling Slowly/No More I Love Yous" (September 1, 2006)

The Swell Season

• The Swell Season (2006)
• Once Soundtrack (2007)
• Strict Joy (2009)

Films and television

• The Commitments (1991)
• Once (2007)
• Austin City Limits (2008)
• Ballymun Lullaby (2011) - Documentary
• Play (2011)

See also

• The Stars Are Underground – 24-minute film documenting the underground music scene in Dublin, Ireland, in 1996

External links

• Glen Hansard at the Internet Movie Database
• The Swell Season - Myspace
• theswellseason.com
• Lyrics at Irish Music Central
• Excreting Songs - Glen Hansard in interview
• The Frames: It's Just A Band, a 56-minute documentary on The Frames, in 2005