Irish vocalist, lyricist, and multi-instrumentalist Hozier rose to worldwide consideration in 2013 when his grumpy and deep stone single "Take Me to Church" turned into a viral achievement. The tune launch him into a huge record-label contract for his eponymous debut, platinum certified in 11 countries, and a Grammy nomination for Song of the Year in 2015. Following quite a long tour and promotion, he got back with the 2018 EP Nina Cried Power and his second full-length, Wasteland, Baby!, which hit number one in the U.S. and Ireland after being released in 2019.
Andrew Hozier-Byrne was born on March 17, 1990 in Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland. The child of a local blues singer, he joined his first band when he was 15, inclining toward R&B, soul, gospel, and, obviously, blues. Refering to James Joyce's Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man, Leonard Cohen, John Lee Hooker, and local choral singing among his influences, Hozier began reading up for a degree in music at Trinity College Dublin, where he was associated with the Trinity Orchestra, however exited in his first year to record demos for Universal Music. From 2009 to 2012, he sang with Anúna, an Irish choral group, and toured globally. He poroduced an independent EP, Take Me to Church, in 2013 utilizing his stage name Hozier, and when a video for the strong title track, which straightforwardly addresses gay segregation in the Catholic Church, circulated around the web on YouTube and Reddit, he gained international recognition. A second EP, From Eden, was dropped in the spring of 2014 and in September of that year, Columbia delivered his eponymous debut album.
Due to an unimagined success of "Take Me to Church" (which was a part of the album), Hozier reached the Top Ten of the charts in about 11 countries, and was immediately certified gold in Canada and Great Britain. Hozier spent the next several years promoting the release, appearing at the 2015 Grammy Awards, and offering up the concert album Live in America, that same year. In 2016, he contributed the tune "Better Love" to the soundtrack for the Legend of Tarzan film. In September 2018, Hozier released the four-song* Nina Cried Powe*r EP, which featured a collab with soul legend Mavis Staples on the title cut. The tune was likewise added to the full-length Wasteland, Baby!, which was released in March 2019.
Wasteland, Baby! debuted at number one in the U.S. upon its delivery.