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

Image source, PA MediaImage caption, Glen Hansard died in a motorbike crash in Dublin on WednesdayByNiall GlynnBBC News NIPublished31 minutes agoThe death of Oscar-winning Dublin songwriter Glen Hansard in a motorbike crash in the city on Wednesday has been met with widespread shock and grief.The 56-year-old, who shot to prominence when he was cast in 1991 musical comedy film The Commitments, was long-time frontman of rock band The Frames.From Bono to Bruce Springsteen, tributes have poured in from around the world for the father-of-one, with stories shared of his life and impact.

Originally from the working-class Ballymun area of Dublin, Hansard left school at 13.Here's a look of some of the remarkable aspects of his life in music and film.The teenage busker who made it bigImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Glen Hansard playing in the band The Frames in 1990It all started with a guitar and a tape.

In an interview with Irish broadcaster RTÉ in February, external, Hansard said the instrument left in his home by an uncle who had gone to prison and a Bob Dylan cassette changed the path of his life.Ballymun was one of Dublin's most economically deprived areas in the 1980s, hit hard by unemployment, crime and drug addiction. "I was on a kind of a trajectory of getting into the drugs - only gently - getting heavy into drinking, very young, beginning to kind of break into things, just getting into that slightly dodgy spot," he saidHe was given a cassette of Bob Dylan by his girlfriend's brother."

I listened to Bob Dylan and everything, like my whole world just went into the opposite - flipped," he said."I stayed in the bedroom, I played Bob Dylan songs every day, I learned my craft, I decided music was all I cared about."So that was a real turnaround for me, it was a life changer and I suddenly had my path."

He said he was also fortunate that his headmaster at school encouraged him down the path of music, with Hansard saying he told him: "I can't guarantee you'll be famous, but if you start now, then you'll always be able to live from your guitar." He formed The Frames and signed his first record deal in 1990, the same year he became part of the cast of The Commitments.The accidental film starImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, The cast of 1991's The CommitmentsIt's odd to say about someone who was a musician through and through, but - whether by fate or accident - Hansard ended up appearing in two of the biggest films in Ireland's history.

Alan Parker's 1991 film, The Commitments, tells the story of the rise and fall of a soul band made up of young working-class Dubliners. Hansard played the role of guitarist Outspan Foster, despite not originally auditioning for the part. "I just showed up with my friend, we had been up all night," he told the XS Noise podcast, external earlier this year."

He went for the audition and I sat outside waiting for him."Hansard said they were about to leave when he was asked if he wanted to read for a part."They said you've got red hair, you play guitar, you fit the bill for this character that we're casting."

So I went in and I read a few lines and I'd no problem with the accent because I'm from the north side of Dublin - so I'm a northsider, I play guitar and I've got red hair, I kind of fit the bill."So they gave me a callback and much to my surprise I got the part."The film was an unlikely hit, going on to achieve cult status.

He described the experience as "incredible, it was a beautiful experience"."It's sad for me that people have said to me 'I've heard you didn't enjoy the experience with The Commitments' - I loved it, I had an absolute ball."I just sort of felt it didn't define me and that was my little bit of resistance."

Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglova hold their Oscars for the song Falling Slowly at the 80th annual Academy AwardsIncredibly, the reluctant actor went on to star in another seminal Irish film. Hansard won his Oscar for for the song Falling Slowly from the 2007 film Once, which he also starred in alongside Markéta Irglova.Again, it was a role he wasn't originally assigned to play.

Director John Carney had earmarked Irish actor Cillian Murphy for the role. "He's quite a good singer. I thought I'd do the usual thing where you get a good actor who can half sing and train that voice, but then it became clear to everybody on the film that we should do it the other way around," Carney said in an interview with American film news website CHUD.

, external"We should get somebody who could really sing and half act and I'll trust that I would be able to do something magical with that."He turned to his friend Hansard, who had co-written the music for the film.Meeting his childhood heroesImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Hansard first met Van Morrison at a birthday party and ended up jamming with himAs well as Bob Dylan - who he would meet a number of times - another of Hansard's musical heroes was Belfast's Van Morrison