Jools Holland

Julian Miles Holland (born 24 January 1958) is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the rock band Squeeze, formed in 1974. From 1982 until 1987, he co-presented the Channel 4 music programme The Tube.

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.

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.

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

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".

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.

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, 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.

Personal life 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 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.

A fan of the 1960s TV series The Prisoner,

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.

Discography

Charting and certified albums

1996 Sex & Jazz & Rock & Roll

1998 The Best Of

UK: Silver 2000 Hop the Wag

UK: Silver

2012 The Golden Age of Song

UK: Silver

2017 As You See Me Now

2018 A Lovely Life to Live

2024 Swing Fever

UK: Silver

Guest appearances

Album Artist Details Ref.

The Count Bishops The Count Bishops Piano

The Electric Chairs Wayne County & the Electric Chairs Keyboards

1991 Mr Roadrunner (Jools Holland in Memphis) 1994 There's No Business...: Pianist (uncredited) 1994–1995 Don't Forget Your Toothbrush 1995 The Beatles Anthology 1997 Spice World: Musical Director 1997 Name That Tune: Host and Pianist 1998 Beat Route: Round the World with Jools Holland: Host and Pianist 2001 Astley's Way: Tribute to composer Edwin Astley 2003 Jools' History of the Piano: Presenter 2007 Fairport@Forty: Interview 2007 Top Gear: Star in a reasonably priced car. 2009 Chop Shop Rover Concept: The Jet 1 Car : Customer 2012 Jools Holland – London Calling: Presenter 2014 The Life of Rock with Brian Pern as himself 2023 Little Trains & Big Names with Pete Waterman as himself

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) Beat Route: Journeys Through Six Counties, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (1998) Ray Charles: Man and Music, (with Michael Lydon), Payback Press (1999) Hand That Changed Its Mind, International Music Publications (2007) Barefaced Lies and Boogie-woogie Boasts, Penguin Books (2007)