Jools Holland

Julian Miles Holland OBE DL (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.

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, through 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.