Andrew Hozier-Byrne, known as Hozier, was born in Bray in Ireland 33 years ago. Raised in a family of musicians and a music student at Trinity College Dublin (until his drive to write songs and share them with the world won out over his studies), Hozier has always cultivated a great passion for music: childhood listening and adolescence were dominated, he says, by his father’s record collection and in particular by Chicago blues, Texas blues, and the Chess Records and Motown labels, later discovering jazz, but more importantly the Delta Blues – with that extraordinarily haunting sound – thanks to artists like Skip James, Blind Willie Johnson. Next came Pink Floyd, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday and the great influence of Tom Waits.
In October 2014 he released “Hozier”, the self-titled debut album containing the beautiful ‘Take Me To Church’, gold, platinum and diamond disc in many countries. Soundtrack to a well-known commercial starring basketball player LeBron James, the single, which became a hit, conquered everyone, earning first places in the world charts: the song was nominated ‘Song Of The Year’ at the 2015 Grammy Awards, he won as ‘Song Of The Year’ at the 2015 Ivor Novello Awards and at the 2015 BBC Music Awards And ‘Top Rock Song’ at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards, where Hozier he also won in the category ‘Top Rock Artist’, as well as having sold over 3 million copies in the UK alone. ‘Take Me To Church’ is a song about sexuality, freedom and humanity. The text captures the fascinating mix of condemnation and provocation, sin and forgiveness that characterizes his approach to writing. This continuous contrast expressed by his words and music remains, over the years, the distinctive trait of an artist who, since the beginning, has very clear ideas.
Hozier’s talent is unanimously recognized both in his native Ireland and in the United States, where the debut album reached number two in the sales charts in just one week of its release. Between soul, blues and folk-rock with an ‘indie-gospel’ vein, Hozier he immediately defines his particular musical style.
In 2016 comes ‘Cherry Wine’, the singlebecame the soundtrack to the awareness campaign on domestic abuse issues around the world. The official video starred actress, with three Oscar nominations, Saoirse Ronan. Meanwhile the song ‘Better Love’, contained in the debut album, became the soundtrack of the Warner Bros adventure film ‘The Legend Of Tarzan’.
Three years later, in 2019, Hozier releases ‘Wasteland Baby!’ the second album a few months after ‘Nina Cried Power’, the EP which features the collaboration of the legendary soul / gospel singer Mavis Staples and the iconic musician Booker T Jones on organ. ‘Wasteland Baby!’ is an album inspired and influenced by contemporary political events where, between ‘rebel song’ and love songs, Hozier maintains a musical style that ranges from black music to soul to folk-pop. Among the songs contained, the track ‘Movement’ reaches over 21 million streams in just one month, becoming a fan favorite at concerts.
After four years of silence, it is with a handwritten letter that Hozier announces ‘Eat Your Young’, the ep arriving on March 17th, on his birthday, the first of a series of publications that will culminate in the disc scheduled for this summer. “The body of work will follow the journey of the last strange years, in a loose and playful path of nine circles. There is a lot I would like to share, but I feel it best to leave us here with my deepest and most sincere thanks for the support and patience that have brought my fans this far.” declares the artist. A series of publications will therefore see the light that will accompany the acclaimed artist for the first time on the stage of the Vittoriale Amphitheater for a single Italian date, Sunday 16 July.
https://hozier.com/
ticket prices
- stalls: 50 Euros + presale
- numbered bleachers: 43 Euros + presale
- unnumbered bleachers: 34 Euros + presale
- tickets on sale from 10.30 on Friday 24 March
with exclusive presale for subscribers to the Tener-a-mente Festival newsletter from 10.30 on Thursday 23 March on the website www.anfiteatrodelvittoriale.it – infoline: 340.1392446
KEEP-IN-MENTE FESTIVAL 2023
Vittoriale amphitheater, Gardone Riviera (BS)
billboard being updated