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 band Squeeze and has worked with many artists including Marc Almond, Joss Stone, Jayne County, Tom Jones, José Feliciano, Sting, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, George Harrison, David Gilmour, Ringo Starr, Bono, Rod Stewart and Ruby Turner.

Holland was born on 24 January 1958 in Blackheath, South East 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 South East 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.

Holland lives in Westcombe Park, south east London, where he had his studio, Helicon Mountain, built to his design and inspired by Portmeirion, the setting for the 1960s TV series The Prisoner.

He also owns a manor house near the medieval Cooling Castle in Kent.

Holland was a founding member of the British pop band Squeeze, formed in March 1974, in which he played keyboards until 1980, through its first three albums, the eponymous Squeeze, Cool for Cats and Argybargy, before pursuing his solo career.

His first studio session was with Wayne County & the Electric Chairs in 1976 on their track "Fuck Off".

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.

Holland also appeared as a guest host on MTV.

From 1982 until 1987, he co-presented the Channel 4 music programme The Tube.

In 1983, Holland played an extended piano solo on The The's re-recording of "Uncertain Smile" for the album Soul Mining.

In 1985, Squeeze (which had continued in Holland's absence through to 1982) unexpectedly regrouped including Holland as their keyboard player.

In 1987, Holland formed the Jools Holland Big Band, which consisted of himself and for the show Gilson Lavis from Squeeze, which gradually grew and was renamed as Jools Holland's Rhythm and 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.

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.

Since 1992, he has hosted Later... with Jools Holland, a music-based 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.

Since 1992, he has presented the music programme Later... with Jools Holland, plus an annual New Year's Eve Hootenanny.

In 1996, Holland signed a recording contract with Warner Bros. Records, and his records are now marketed through Rhino Records.

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 2004 he collaborated with 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.

In January 2005 Holland and his band performed with Eric Clapton as the headline act of the Tsunami Relief Cardiff.

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.

In March 2023, Jimmy Barnes announced the formation of supergroup The Barnestormers, featuring Barnes, Chris Cheney, Slim Jim Phantom, Jools Holland and Kevin Shirley.

A self-titled album was released on 26 May 2023.

On 30 August 2005, Holland married Christabel McEwen, 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.

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.