Jools Holland

In 1987 he created his 19-piece big band Jools Holland and his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra, which has included vocalist Ruby Turner. Since 1992 he has hosted Later.. With Jools Holland, a music show aired on BBC2, and in 1994 the BBC2 New Years Eve show Jools' Annual Hootenanny was added. 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 and his band have worked with many other artists, including Marc Almond, Beverley Knight, 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.

• Name — Jools Holland • Birth Name — Julian Miles Holland • Born — 24 January 1958 • Birthplace — Blackheath, London, England • Years Active — 1974–present • Occupation — * Musician • composer • television presenter • bandleader • Children — 3 • Website — https: joolsholland.com

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. Holland was educated at Shooters Hill Grammar School in southeast London, from which he was expelled for damaging a teacher's Triumph Herald.

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". Holland was a founding member of the rock band Squeeze, formed in London in March 1974, in which he played keyboards until 1980. He played on their first three albums, the eponymous Squeeze, Cool for Cats and Argybargy, before pursuing his solo career. 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. He referred to this in his sitcom The Groovy Fellers with Rowland Rivron. In 1983 Holland played an extended piano solo on The The's re-recording of "Uncertain Smile" for their album Soul Mining. 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. In 1987 Holland formed the Jools Holland Big Band, which consisted of himself and Gilson Lavis from Squeeze, plus a number of session musicians. The band grew and was soon renamed as Jools Holland and his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra. 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. 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. Since 1992, he has presented the music programme Later... with Jools Holland, plus an annual New Year's Eve Hootenanny on BBC Two. 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, and his records are now marketed through Rhino Records. • Illustration — 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. In January 2005, Holland and his band performed with Eric Clapton as the headline act of the Tsunami Relief Cardiff. In 2004 he collaborated with the Welsh singer Tom Jones on an album of traditional R&B music. 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. Holland currently hosts the music magazine programme Earlier with Jools Holland on BBC Radio 3 at 12.00 - 13.00 on Saturdays. 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. Holland achieved his first UK number one album in 2024 with Swing Fever, a collaboration with Rod Stewart.

As a teenager, Holland lived with his grandparents, 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. On 30 August 2005, Holland married Christabel McEwen at St James' Church, Cooling, his girlfriend of 15 years and daughter of artist Rory McEwen. 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. Holland lives in Westcombe Park, southeast London. He also owns a manor house near the medieval Cooling Castle in Kent. Holland appeared on the cover of Railway Modeller magazine in January 2019. In the attic of his house, Holland has spent ten years building a 100 ft 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." 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. In September 2006, Holland was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for Kent. Holland was appointed an honorary fellow of Canterbury Christ Church University at a ceremony held at Canterbury Cathedral on 30 January 2009. On 1 February 2011, he was appointed honorary colonel of 101 (City of London) Engineer Regiment. Holland has been the President of the British Watch & Clock Makers Guild since 2018, and an honorary liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Plumbers since 2019. In June 2006, Holland performed in Southend for HIV/AIDS charity Mildmay, and in early 2007 he performed at Wells and Rochester Cathedrals to raise money for maintaining cathedral buildings. He is also patron of Drake Music. • Illustration — Jools Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra at Guilfest 2012 A fan of the 1960s TV series The Prisoner, 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. 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. 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.

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.

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

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

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

The authorities additionally record the headings Jools Miles Holland and Julian Miles Holland. His recorded language was English. He was the child of Derek Holland and Jane R. He married Christabel Mary McEwen and Mary Leahy. 3 children are recorded: Mabel Ray Britannia Holland, George Solomon Holland and Rosie Aretha M.

Jools Holland is recorded as having received Officer of the Order of the British Empire and BBC Jazz Awards.