Jools Holland

Julian Miles Holland Template:Post-nominals (born 24 January 1958) is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the rock band Squeeze. From 1982 until 1987, he co-presented the Channel 4 music programme The Tube. Since 1992, he has hosted Later... with Jools Holland, a music show aired on BBC2, on which his annual show Hootenanny is based. Holland is a published author and appears on television shows besides his own. He regularly hosted the programme Jools Holland on BBC Radio 2.

In 2004, Holland collaborated with the Welsh singer Tom Jones on an album of traditional R&B music. He achieved his first UK number one album in 2024 with Swing Fever, a collaboration with Rod Stewart. He has worked with many other artists including Marc Almond, Jayne County, José Feliciano, Sting, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, George Harrison, David Gilmour, Ringo Starr, Dr. John, Bono, the The, Ruby Turner, and Amy Winehouse.

Early life and education

Holland was born on 24 January 1958 in Blackheath, southeast London. At the age of eight, he could play the piano fluently by ear. By his early teens he was appearing regularly in many of the pubs in southeast London and the East End Docks.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Holland was educated at Shooters Hill Grammar School in southeast London, from which he was expelled for damaging a teacher's Triumph Herald.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Career

Holland began his career as a session musician. His first studio session was with Wayne County & the Electric Chairs in 1976 on their track "Fuck Off".<ref name="official">Template:Cite web</ref>

Holland was a founding member of the rock band Squeeze, formed in London in March 1974, in which he played keyboards until 1980, through their first three albums, the eponymous Squeeze, Cool for Cats and Argybargy, before pursuing his solo career.<ref name="Squeeze AMG">Template:Cite web</ref>

Holland began issuing solo records in 1978, his first EP being Boogie Woogie '78. He continued his solo career through the early 1980s, releasing an album and several singles between 1981 and 1984. He branched out into TV, co-presenting the Newcastle-based TV music show The Tube with Paula Yates. Holland used the phrase, "be there, or be an ungroovy fucker" in one early evening TV trailer for the show, live across two channels, causing him to be suspended from the show for six weeks.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He referred to this in his sitcom The Groovy Fellers with Rowland Rivron.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1983, Holland played an extended piano solo on The The's re-recording of "Uncertain Smile" for their album Soul Mining.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1985, Squeeze (which had continued in Holland's absence through to 1982) unexpectedly regrouped including Holland as their keyboard player. Holland remained in the band until 1990, at which point he again departed to resume his solo career as a musician and a TV host.<ref name="Squeeze AMG"/>

In 1987, Holland formed the Jools Holland Big Band, which consisted of himself and Gilson Lavis from Squeeze, which gradually grew and was renamed as Jools Holland and his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra.<ref name=":2" /> In May 2022, it was a 17-piece orchestra and included singers Louise Marshall, Ruby Turner and Holland's daughter Mabel Ray, as well as his younger brother, singer-songwriter and keyboard player, Christopher Holland.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref>

Between 1988 and 1990 Holland performed and co-hosted along with David Sanborn during the two seasons of the music performance programme Sunday Night on NBC late-night television.<ref>Sunday Night episodes 104 (1988), 113 (1989), 114 (1989), 121 (1989)</ref> Since 1992, he has presented the music programme Later... with Jools Holland, plus an annual New Year's Eve Hootenanny.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1992 he interviewed the surviving Beatles as part of the Beatles Anthology documentary series.

In 1996, Holland signed a recording contract with Warner Bros. Records,<ref name=official /> and his records are now marketed through Rhino Records.

Holland and his R&B Orchestra performing at GuilFest 2012

On 29 November 2002, Holland was in the ensemble of musicians who performed at the Concert for George, which celebrated the music of George Harrison.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In January 2005, Holland and his band performed with Eric Clapton as the headline act of the Tsunami Relief Cardiff.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2004, he collaborated with the Welsh singer Tom Jones on an album of traditional R&B music.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On BBC Radio 2 Holland regularly hosted the programme Jools Holland, a mix of live and recorded music and general chat, featuring studio guests, along with members of his orchestra.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Holland currently hosts the music magazine programme Earlier with Jools Holland on BBC Radio 3 at 12.00 - 13.00 on Saturdays.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In March 2023, Jimmy Barnes announced the formation of supergroup the Barnestormers, featuring Barnes, Holland, Chris Cheney, Slim Jim Phantom, and Kevin Shirley. A self-titled album was released on 26 May 2023.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Holland achieved his first UK number one album in 2024 with Swing Fever, a collaboration with Rod Stewart.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Personal life

As a teenager, Holland lived with his grandparents,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> which he mentioned anecdotally in a 2020 episode of Rhod Gilbert's Growing Pains.

Holland has a son, George, and daughter, Rose, with his former partner Mary Leahy.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> On 30 August 2005, Holland married Christabel McEwen at St James' Church, Cooling, his girlfriend of 15 years and daughter of artist Rory McEwen.<ref name=":0" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The couple have a daughter, Mabel, and McEwen has a son, Frederick Lambton, Viscount Lambton, by her former marriage to Ned Lambton, the 7th Earl of Durham.<ref name=":1" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Holland lives in Westcombe Park, southeast London. He also owns a manor house near the medieval Cooling Castle in Kent.<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Cbignore</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Holland appeared on the cover of Railway Modeller magazine in January 2019.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the attic of his house, Holland has spent ten years building a Template:Convert model railway. It is full of miniature buildings and landscapes that stretch from Berlin to London. He started with photographs and paintings from early 1960s London. According to The Daily Telegraph, "In the evenings, he builds some trains and buildings before switching on some music, pouring a glass of wine and switching on the trains to watch them move around the room."<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref>

Holland received an OBE in 2003 in the Queen's Birthday Honours list, for services to the British music industry as a television presenter and musician.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> In September 2006, Holland was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for Kent.<ref name=TelegraphAnorak>Template:Cite news</ref> Holland was appointed an honorary fellow of Canterbury Christ Church University at a ceremony held at Canterbury Cathedral on 30 January 2009.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On 1 February 2011, he was appointed honorary colonel of 101 (City of London) Engineer Regiment.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> Holland has been the President of the British Watch & Clock Makers Guild since 2018,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and an honorary liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Plumbers since 2019.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In June 2006, Holland performed in Southend for HIV/AIDS charity Mildmay,<ref>[1] Template:Dead link</ref> and in early 2007 he performed at Wells and Rochester Cathedrals to raise money for maintaining cathedral buildings.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He is also patron of Drake Music.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Jools Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra at Guilfest 2012

A fan of the 1960s TV series The Prisoner,<ref name=official_biog/> in 1987 Holland demonstrated his love of the series and starred in a spoof documentary, The Laughing Prisoner, with Stephen Fry, Terence Alexander and Hugh Laurie.<ref name=official_biog/> Much of it was shot on location in Portmeirion, the setting for The Prisoner, with archive footage of Patrick McGoohan. It featured musical selections by Siouxsie and the Banshees, Magnum and XTC. Holland performed a number towards the end of the programme. He had his own studio complex, Helicon Mountain, built to his design and inspired by Portmeirion.<ref name=official_biog>Template:Cite web</ref>

Holland was an interviewer for The Beatles Anthology TV project, and appeared in the 1997 film Spiceworld as a musical director.

In 2009, Holland commissioned TV series Bangla Bangers (Chop Shop) to create a replica of the Rover JET1 for personal use.

Writing

Holland's 2007 autobiography, Barefaced Lies and Boogie-Woogie Boasts, was BBC Radio 4's "Book of the Week" in the week beginning 8 October 2007 and was read by Holland.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Clear

Discography

Charting and certified albums

Year	Album	Peak chart positions		Certifications (sales thresholds)
		UK <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	NZ <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1996	Sex & Jazz & Rock & Roll	38	–
1998	The Best Of	90	–	UK: Silver<ref name="BPI">Template:Cite certification</ref>
2000	Hop the Wag	–	–	UK: Silver<ref name="BPI"/>
2001	Small World Big Band	8	23	UK: 2× Platinum<ref name="BPI"/>
2002	SWBB Volume Two: More Friends	17	44	UK: Platinum<ref name="BPI"/>
2003	Jack o the Green (SWBB Friends 3)	39	–	UK: Silver<ref name="BPI"/>
2004	Tom Jones & Jools Holland	5	–	UK: Gold<ref name="BPI"/>
2005	Swinging the Blues, Dancing the Ska	36	–
2007	Best of Friends	9	–	UK: Silver<ref name="BPI"/>
2011	Finding the Keys – The Best Of	127<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	–
2012	The Golden Age of Song	11<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	–	UK: Silver<ref name="BPI"/>
2015	Jools & Ruby	39<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	–
2017	As You See Me Now Template:Small	24	–
2018	A Lovely Life to Live Template:Small	61	–
2024	Swing Fever Template:Small	1	–	UK: Silver<ref name="BPI"/>

Releases

Template:Columns-list<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Guest appearances

Year	Album	Artist	Details	Ref.
1977	The Count Bishops	The Count Bishops	Piano	<ref name="AllMusic">Template:Cite web</ref>
	The Electric Chairs	Wayne County & the Electric Chairs	Keyboards	<ref name="AllMusic" />
1978	The Image Has Cracked	Alternative TV	Piano on "Viva La Rock 'n' Roll", Moog synthesizer on "Alternatives"	<ref name="AllMusic" />
1979	Dilemma	Streetband	Keyboards	<ref name="AllMusic" />
	Thriller	Eddie and the Hot Rods	Keyboards	<ref name="AllMusic" />
1983	Soul Mining	The The	Piano on "Uncertain Smile"	<ref name="AllMusic" />
1985	Black and White	Terraplane	Organ	<ref name="AllMusic" />
1986	Deep in the Heart of Nowhere	Bob Geldof	Keyboards	<ref name="AllMusic" />
1988	Angst	Chrome Molly	Keyboards	<ref name="AllMusic" />
	The Raw & the Cooked	Fine Young Cannibals	Piano on "Good Thing"	<ref name="AllMusic" />
	Wolf	Hugh Cornwell	Piano on"Cherry Rare", organ on "Dreaming Again"	<ref name="AllMusic" />
1992	Mirmama	Eddi Reader	Piano, Hammond organ	<ref name="AllMusic" />
1994	Jewel	Marcella Detroit	Piano on "Detroit", Hammond organ on "James Brown"	<ref name="AllMusic" />
1996	Guilty	Ruby Turner	Piano	<ref name="AllMusic" />
	Homage	The Blues Band	Piano, organ	<ref name="AllMusic" />
	A Night in London	Mark Knopfler	Piano	<ref name="AllMusic" />
1997	Deuces Wild	B. B. King	Piano	<ref name="AllMusic" />
	Heavy Soul	Paul Weller	Wurlitzer on "Golden Sands"	<ref name="AllMusic" />
1998	Anutha Zone	Dr. John	Hammond organ	<ref name="AllMusic" />
1999	Straight Up	Leo Green	Hammond organ	<ref name="AllMusic" />
2000	ReBoot	Sam Brown	Piano on "In Light of All That's Gone Before"	<ref name="AllMusic" />
2002	Brainwashed	George Harrison	Piano on "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea"	<ref name="AllMusic" />
2003	Frank	Amy Winehouse	Deluxe edition Piano on "Teach Me Tonight" (live)	<ref name="AllMusic" />
2004	Roll the Dice	Big Town Playboys	Piano	<ref name="AllMusic" />
	Thank You Brother Ray	The Blues Band	Keyboards	<ref name="AllMusic" />
2005	A Hyperactive Workout for the Flying Squad	Ocean Colour Scene	Piano and Hammond organ on "Waving Not Drowning"	<ref name="AllMusic" />
2006	On an Island	David Gilmour	Piano on "The Blue"	<ref name="AllMusic" />
2007	Stardom Road	Marc Almond	Piano on "Backstage (I'm Lonely)"	<ref name="AllMusic" />
2011	Hold On Tight	Solomon Burke and De Dijk	Piano on "What a Woman"	<ref name="AllMusic" />
2015	Making Life Rhyme	Lulu	Piano	<ref name="AllMusic" />
	Rattle That Lock	David Gilmour	Piano on "The Girl in the Yellow Dress"	<ref name="AllMusic" />
	Suddenly I Like It	Paul Jones	Piano, Hammond organ	<ref name="AllMusic" />
2016	Soulsville	Beverley Knight	Featured on "Hound Dog"	<ref name="AllMusic" />
2017	Daylight	The Selecter	Piano on "Daylight"	<ref name="AllMusic" />
	Life Love Flesh Blood	Imelda May	Piano on "When It's My Time"	<ref name="AllMusic" />
2020	Gospel	Mica Paris	Piano on "Take My Hand, Precious Lord"	<ref name="AllMusic" />
	Royal Tea	Joe Bonamassa	Co-composer, piano on "Lonely Boy"	<ref name="AllMusic" />

Film and television

Current television programmes

• 1992–present Later... with Jools Holland
• 1993–present Hootenanny
• 2020–present Celebrity Gogglebox with Vic Reeves

Books

• "Rolling Stones": A Life on the Road (with Dora Loewenstein), Viking/Allen Lane (1998) (Template:ISBN)
• Beat Route: Journeys Through Six Counties, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (1998) (Template:ISBN)
• Ray Charles: Man and Music, (with Michael Lydon), Payback Press (1999) (Template:ISBN)
• Hand That Changed Its Mind, International Music Publications (2007) (Template:ISBN)
• Barefaced Lies and Boogie-woogie Boasts, Penguin Books (2007) (Template:ISBN)

External links

• Template:Official website
• Template:Discogs artist
• Template:IMDb name
• Earlier... with Jools Holland (BBC Radio 3)
• Later...with Jools Holland (BBC Two)