‘Heartbroken’ singer Frances Black ‘doesn’t know how people will cope’ after ‘magical’ pal Glen Hansard’s crash death

TRIBUTES have continued to pour in for the late Glen Hansard, with pal Frances Black saying she “doesn’t know how people will cope”.

Irish singer and politician Black told how Glen had a “gift” for bringing people together and was a “magical human being”.

Glen Hansard died in a motorbike crash in Strawberry Beds, Dublin, in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Speaking on RTE’s Morning Ireland, Black said: “Glen was so inclusive. He brought people together. He had this kind of magnetic force.

“There were no airs and graces about Glen. If you were a performer, a musician, even if it was just at a session, he just respected you and he brought people together. It’s devastating.

Black, who met Glen 35 years ago, continued: “The first time I came across Glen was on Ardee Street, actually.

“Luka Bloom held a party, I think it was a birthday party, maybe for his partner, for his girlfriend, and that was the first time.

“It was just one of those amazing sessions, and, of course, [Glen] had everybody singing with him.

“I think that [showed] the gift he had for bringing people together.”

She added: “It was so natural and normal and he was just a magical human being.

“I’ll miss his beautiful soul and the way he brought everybody together. People felt loved [around him], that’s the only way I can describe it.

“I don’t know how people will cope with the heartbreak of this.”

Black, the mum of singer Aoife Scott, shared a tragic photo of the last time the pair met on social media.

She wrote: “I’m absolutely heartbroken to hear of the passing of Glen Hansard.

“The last time I met Glen was in New York, where he invited myself and my two dear friends, Don and Pascal, to his gig in the Beacon Theatre.

“He was outstanding that night, what a gig. I honestly cannot believe he’s gone. Glen did so much for charity.

“My deepest condolences to his wife Maire, his beautiful little boy Christy, to his whole family and to all who worked with him and loved him. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.”

Black rose to fame in the late 1980s out of her family’s trad group The Black Family.

She was elected to the Seanad as an independent senator in 2016 for the Industrial and Commercial panel.

A book of condolences for the late Ballymun singer will be open today and tomorrow from 10am until 4pm.

Mourners can share their condolences at Dublin’s Mansion House or online on the Dublin City Council’s website.

Stars continue to share their memories of Glen, with Live Aid co-founder and Boomtown Rats frontman Bob Geldof saying he was “wonderful”.

Geldof said: “The universe lacks mercy or justice that such a sweet, thoughtful, burstingly talented man should be so wantonly and violently killed on an early Irish morning backroad.

“Tragedy does not do justice to this terrible calamity for his family, the world of music and Ireland itself.

“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.”

Superstar Bruce Springsteen took to social media to share his “heartbreak” at the news.

The Dancing in the Dark singer said: “We met in Ireland many years ago and he was always nothing but a great musician, a good friend and a generous and gracious man.

“Always positive, smiling and ready to sing. God bless him and his loved ones.”