Education

Holland was educated at Shooters Hill Grammar School, a former state grammar school on Red Lion Lane in Shooter's Hill (near Woolwich), in the Royal Borough of Greenwich in southeast London, from which he was expelled for damaging a teacher's Triumph Herald.

Life and career

Holland played as a session musician before finding fame, and 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 British pop band Squeeze, formed in March 1974, in which he played keyboards until 1981 and helped the band to achieve millions of record sales, 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 achieved notoriety by inadvertently using the phrase "be there, or be an ungroovey fucker" in an early evening TV trailer, live across two channels, for the show, 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 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. Holland remained in the band until 1990, at which point, he again departed Squeeze 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. This gradually became the 18-piece Jools Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra.

Between 1988 and 1990 he 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.

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

Holland has a touring band, the Rhythm and Blues Orchestra, which often includes singers Sam Brown and Ruby Turner and his younger brother, singer-songwriter and keyboard player, Christopher Holland. In January 2005 Holland and his band performed with Eric Clapton as the headline act of the Tsunami Relief Cardiff.

On 4 June 2012, Holland performed at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Concert outside Buckingham Palace in London. Also in June 2012, he presented a programme about the popular songs of London on BBC Two.

He presents a weekly programme on BBC Radio 2, combining guests and chat, with recorded and live music.

Personal life

On 29 August 2005, Holland married Christabel McEwen, his girlfriend of 15 years and daughter of artist Rory McEwen. Between 1983 and 1995 she was married to Edward Lambton, 7th Earl of Durham. Holland lives in the Westcombe Park area of Blackheath in southeast 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 house built in the medieval ruins of Cooling Castle in Kent.

He 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. In August 2012, Holland was made honorary colonel of the Royal Engineers 101 (City of London Engineer Regiment), currently in the bomb disposal role.

Known for his charity work, 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 and has raised many thousands of pounds for the charity.

A noted 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, with archive footage of Patrick McGoohan, and featuring musical numbers from Siouxsie and the Banshees, Magnum and XTC. Holland performed a number towards the end of the programme.

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

In 2008, Holland commissioned TV series Bangla Bangers (Chop Shop) to create a replica of the legendary Rover Jet 1 for personal use. Holland is a greyhound racing supporter and has previously owned dogs.

Writing

His 2007 autobiography, Barefaced Lies and Boogie Woogie Boasts, was BBC Radio 4 "Book of the Week" in the week beginning 8 October 2007 and was read by Holland.

Discography

See also: Squeeze and Squeeze discography

Albums which charted and received certifications

Year	Album	Peak chart positions		Certifications
		UK	NZ
1996	Sex & Jazz & Rock & Roll	38	-
1998	Best Of	-	-	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	-

Releases

• 1978 "Boogie Woogie '78" (EP)
• 1981 Jools Holland and His Millionaires
• 1984 Jools Holland Meets Rock 'A' Boogie Billy (U.S. release only)
• 1990 World of His Own
• 1991 The Full Complement
• 1992 Together Again (single with Sam Brown)
• 1992 The A-Z Geographer's Guide to the Piano
• 1994 Solo Piano
• 1994 Live Performance
• 1996 Sex & Jazz & Rock & Roll
• 1997 Lift The Lid
• 1998 Best Of
• 1999 Sunset Over London
• 2000 Hop the Wag
• 2001 Small World Big Band
• 2002 SWBB Volume Two: More Friends
• 2003 Jack O the Green (SWBB Friends 3)
• 2004 Tom Jones & Jools Holland
• 2005 Beatroute
• 2005 Swinging the Blues, Dancing the Ska
• 2006 Moving Out to the Country
• 2007 Best of Friends
• 2008 The Collection
• 2008 The Informer (with Ruby Turner)
• 2008 "The Informer" (single with Ruby Turner)
• 2009 "I Went By" (single with Louise Marshall)
• 2010 Rockinghorse
• 2011 Finding the Keys: The Best of Jools Holland
• 2012 The Golden Age of Song
• 2014 Sirens of Song
• 2015 Jools & Ruby (with Ruby Turner)

Film and television

• 1981 Otway & Barrett Live
• 1981 Urgh! A Music War
• 1982 Police: Around the World
• 1982-87 The Tube (Host for 121 editions)
• 1983 Rebellious Jukebox: Compere
• 1984 The Young Ones: punk (episode entitled "Cash")
• 1985 Walking To New Orleans (Jools Holland in New Orleans)
• 1987 Eat the Rich: Sun Reporter
• 1987 Filthy Rich & Catflap: Strip Show Pianist (Episode No. 1.3)
• 1987 The Laughing Prisoner: No. 7
• 1987 French and Saunders (Episode 1.5)
• 1988 Sunday Night: Host (unknown episodes)
• 1989 Juke Box Jury: Host (unknown episodes)
• 1989 The Groovy Fellers Himself, 6 episodes
• 1990-92 Jools Holland's Happening (Noel Gay Productions 37 episodes (BSB 1990-1991); 12 episodes (Channel 4, 1991-1992). Entire series believed wiped )
• 1991 Mr Roadrunner (Jools Holland in Memphis)
• 1994 There's No Business: Pianist
• 1994-95 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 Jool's 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

Current television programmes

• 1992-present Later... with Jools Holland
• 1993-present Hootenanny

Books

• "Rolling Stones": A Life on the Road (with Dora Loewenstein), Viking/Allen Lane (1998) (ISBN 0-670-88051-5)
• Beat Route: Journeys Through Six Counties, Weidenfeld & Nicholson (1998) (ISBN 0-575-06700-4)
• Ray Charles: Man and Music, (with Michael Lydon), Payback Press (1999) (ISBN 0-86241-929-8)
• Hand That Changed Its Mind, International Music Publications (2007) (ISBN 1-84328-645-9)
• Barefaced Lies and Boogie-woogie Boasts, Penguin Books (2007) (ISBN 9780718149154)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]