Hitting new highs: How singer Loah left her day job after co-writing one of ex-boyfriend Hozier's catchiest songs
After co-writing one of ex Hozier's catchiest songs, Irish-Sierra Leonean singer Loah left her day job in pharmacy. Fresh from playing Mary Magdalene in the West End, she talks to Shilpa Ganatra about her dual identity, the changing face of Ireland - and why she's happy to be single right now
Photo by Gerry McManus at The Curtain hotel, Hackney, London
Around seven years ago, Sallay Matu Garnett hummed a formative tune she had going around in her head. Her then-boyfriend, Andrew Hozier-Byrne, heard it, and asked if he could use it within the songs he was writing. Sure, she said, let me play you the rest of what I had in my mind. By 2014, Sallay had become Loah, Andrew had become Hozier, and though they were no longer a couple, their tune was released as Someone New, one of the warmer, upbeat numbers in his debut album. It went on to sell 972,000 copies worldwide - earning her a small royalty with each sale.
"At the time, it was really nice because it helped me leave my job," she says, over lunch in a busy café in London. "I'd been phasing it out, but it gave me a nice little cushion to fall on so I could quit completely.
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