Jools Holland
Jools Holland
Julian Miles "Jools" Holland, OBE, DLis an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the band Squeeze and his work has involved him with many artists including Sting, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, George Harrison, David Gilmour, Magazine and Bono...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionMusician
Date of Birth24 January 1958
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To me, a jazz venue is what's playing there. I once saw something amazing at the Gilded Balloon during the Festival, which really stuck in my head. That's why I don't really see the Jam House as fitting in anywhere in particular in the Edinburgh jazz scene - the clubs all do different things.
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When I was very small, the electricity was turned off because we didn't pay the bill. I remember sitting by the oil lamp listening to my mother playing 'Careless Love' on the piano.
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I have realised how exciting and easy it is to be a time traveller by looking at paintings and films and architecture and playing music or listening to it. I don't think you necessarily have to live in the present all the time.
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I meet people from really grand backgrounds who had horrible parents who took no interest in them, whereas I'm a working-class boy from Deptford who was worshipped by all my rellies. Everybody in my extended family helped to raise me, and I realise now how lucky I was to grow up among kind folk.
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I learned to play by ear before I learned music theory. For me, that makes sense. After all, children learn to speak before they read and write. The more you understand of music - how harmony and time signatures work, and what chords and inversions are - the more you'll enjoy it.
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I like to think of myself as Prince Charles's friend. He's a great fellow. There are always people trying to knock him, but The Prince's Trust is one of the biggest supporters of young people in Britain.
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It's very nice to be asked to anybody's wedding. Particularly if it's the Prince of Wales. I learned a lot from it, which was to end early and get away. I suppose one would have to look back historically and see who other royals had at their weddings. Were there people at Queen Elizabeth's wedding who were common like myself?
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At 11, I went to live with my maternal nan and granddad temporarily, after my parents separated, and Nan would let me have a go on her piano. My grandparents were like something out of the Noel Coward play, 'This Happy Breed,' and it was magical to hear them sing music-hall songs.
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There is always someone in the world who is better or worse off than yourself, and I've never seen that - in either direction - as a barrier to becoming friends with somebody.
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Early on with Squeeze, we played the Hope & Anchor with U2. Three people turned up. Then two left. Then the last person left. That's the least-attended show I've ever done.
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'The X Factor' seems to be more about building up personalities and people in tears. And it's not a new idea. The pre-Beatles pop world was full of manufactured pop stars. The thing is that you can't imagine any of the artists you look back at and admire ever going on 'The X Factor.'
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The one thing I've learnt is that you don't want to be nasty about anybody, unless they've dropped dead. And the annoying thing is that most of the people that I know who've dropped dead are really great.
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I have friends who are in the posh category and some who are in the not-at-all-posh category, and some who you would find it very hard to get any sort of handle on. But I am lucky to have any friends, of course.
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Music can lift the spirit; it can make you cry. Soldiers have marched into battle to music. It's a powerful thing.