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Jools Holland, OBE was born Julian Miles Holland on 24 January 1958 in Blackheath, south east London.
At the age of eight, he could play the piano fluently by ear and by the time he reached his early teens he was proficient and confident enough to be appearing regularly in many of the pubs in south east London and the east end docks.
At the age of 15, Jools was introduced to Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford; together they formed Squeeze and shortly afterwards they were joined by Gilson Lavis (who had already played with, among others, BB King, Chuck Berry and Max Wall) – who still drums with Jools.
Up The Junction and Cool For Cats made Squeeze's rise to success meteoric and their popularity rapidly extended to America, where their tour included performances at Madison Square Garden.
In 1987, Jools formed The Jools Holland Big Band – comprising himself and Gilson Lavis. This has gradually metamorphosed into the current 20-piece Rhythm & Blues Orchestra.
Jools' career as a television presenter has run parallel to his musical career. He started in the early 1980s when he interviewed The Police for a documentary that was made while they were recording at George Martin's Montserrat studio. Jools then auditioned to become co-presenter (with Paula Yates) of The Tube, which achieved almost immediate cult status and discovered a whole new generation of musicians and comedians between 1981 and 1986.
After presenting two series of Juke Box Jury in 1989 and then 26 shows of The Happening in 1990, Jools was asked in 1992 to host a new music programme for BBC2, which combined his talent and experience as a musician with skills as a TV presenter, and so Later… with Jools Holland was created. Jools' achievements were formally recognised in June 2003, when he was awarded the OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List.
