It is not uncommon to hear the song “Take Me To Church” playing over a supermarket speaker or “Sailor Song” coming from the radio. These chart-topping songs have rocketed the careers of singer-songwriters Hozier and Gigi Perez. This summer, Milwaukee is happy to welcome these two artists as they take on the American leg of Hozier’s Unreal Unearth tour featuring Gigi Perez as an opening act.
Andrew Hozier-Byrne, more widely known as Hozier, is native to Wicklow, Ireland. He has been interested in music since childhood as his mother was an artist and his father a musician. He taught himself to play guitar, and by the time he was 15, he had written hundreds of songs. He studied music at Trinity College before deciding to drop out to more seriously pursue a musical career.
Around that time, he wrote his career-catapulting song, “Take Me To Church.” He released the song in 2013 as part of an EP, where it went on to reach number two on the Billboard Top 100 and received a grammy nomination for song of the year. By 2014, he released his album, Hozier. His second single on the album, “Someone New,” reached the UK top thirty alongside the first single. His charity single, “Cherry Wine” released in 2016, with all profits donated to several domestic abuse charities. He released his “Nina Cried Power” EP in 2018 as he got comfortable in the limelight.
Gianna Brielle Perez, or Gigi Perez, was born in New Jersey, but she was raised in Royal Palm Beach, Florida. She briefly studied at Berklee College of Music, where she wrote an original song called “Sometimes (Backwood),” which she released on her social media platforms in 2021. Within a month, the song reached 18 million streams and reached number one on the Spotify U.S. Viral chart. She was signed with Interscope Records before being dropped not too long after.
Her first independently released and professionally produced single was “Normalcy,” which was shortly followed by her song “Please Be Rude,” which was her first independently released and produced song. In August of 2024, her song “Sailor Song” climbed from number ninety-eight to number twenty-two on the Billboard Top 100, and number one in the UK. She later released her single, “Fable,” and in 2025, her most recent album, At The Beach, In Every Life.
In 2023, Hozier released his newest full album, Unreal, Unearth. The Unreal Unearth tour is taking the world by storm. Hozier is joined by many talented artists as he makes his way to the United States. During his North American section of the tour, he will be joined by the talented artists Amble and Gigi Perez. Gigi Perez will be touring with him from June 10 to August 12, 2025. Milwaukee is excited to welcome the two talented musicians this June, and fans all over the world are sharing the excitement.
References
Dillon, Brian. “Hozier: His Unlikely Rise to Stardom and His Struggles With Fame.” Irish Star, Reach Group, January 9, 2023, www.irishstar.com/culture/entertainment/hoziers-unlikely-rise-struggle-fame-28642013.
“Hozier to Headline Summerfest 2025 on Friday, June 20, 2025 with special guest Gigi Perez at American Family Insurance Amphitheater.” Summerfest, Milwaukee World Festival, Inc., December 16, 2024, www.summerfest.com/press-releases/2024/12/16/hozier-to-headline-summerfest-2025-on-friday-june-20-2025-with-special-guest-gigi-perez-at-american-family-insurance-amphitheater/.
