Hozier performs at Piedmont Park on September 18, 2015 in Atlanta, Georgia (Chris McKay/Getty Images for Live Nation)

HE IS best known for Take me to Church. Now Hozier, the Co Wicklow songwriter whose debut album has sold more than 1m copies, is taking someone to court over allegations of plagiarism.

The former Trinity College student has lodged a defamation case in the High Court against Chilly Gonzales, a Canadian songwriter and producer, over comments Gonzales made on German radio suggesting that Hozier’s debut single, Take me to Church, is “almost the exact same” as a song recorded a year earlier by Canadian singer Feist.

Hozier, through his manager Caroline Downey, has rejected the allegations, telling the Ireland edition of The Times last week they were “groundless”.

Gonzales claimed in a video “music masterclass” for German radio station 1Live, widely shared on YouTube,