Hozier

He has an older brother named Jon, who works in the film industry. Although his parents were raised in the Catholic faith, they chose not to instill a religious education in him.From childhood, Hozier was exposed to blues, soul, and jazz music through the vinyls and cassettes of African-American artists that his parents owned. He was a great admirer of the movie The Blues Brothers and of Nina Simone's records, whom he considers one of his main influences. From a young age, he performed musical presentations in his father's attic and, at fifteen, joined a blues band called Blue Zoots, which performed songs by artists such as Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Howlin' Wolf, and Tom Waits.

He learned to play the guitar and attended the St. Gerard's School in Bray, where he participated in the choir and in blues performances during talent shows.In 2007, Hozier debuted with Anúna, an Irish choral group, and in 2012 he was the soloist in «La Chanson de Mardi Gras», the opening song of the album Illuminations, created to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the group. With Anúna, he performed in countries such as Norway and the Netherlands.In 2008, Hozier enrolled at the Trinity College in Dublin to study music and participated as a vocalist in the university orchestra. A year later, he was discovered by a representative of Universal Music Ireland during a talent contest at the university, who offered him a record contract.

However, Hozier did not feel comfortable working with the producers and, by the end of 2012, decided to take charge of his own compositions. He returned to his parents' house in Bray and completed the demo of «Take Me to Church», a song he had started writing a year earlier, inspired by his first romance, atheist texts, the repression of homosexuals in Russia, and his discontent with the Catholic Church. The song caught the attention of the label Rubyworks, which asked Rob Kirwan to re-record the original with live instruments. Kirwan perceived great potential in the demo and a certain similarity with Adele's style.