Category:
Richest Celebrities › Actors
Net Worth:
$5 Million
Birthdate:
Jan 24, 1958 (66 years old)
Birthplace:
Blackheath, London
Gender:
Male
Profession:
Bandleader, Presenter, Organist, Keyboard Player, Jazz Pianist, Composer, Musician, Television producer, Actor, Screenwriter
Nationality:
United Kingdom
Jools Holland OBE DL is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer, television personality, producer, and author who has a net worth of $5 million. Jools Holland is best known for performing with the musical groups Squeeze and Jools Holland’s Rhythm and Blues Orchestra.
Throughout his career, he has worked with several high-profile artists, including Sting, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, George Harrison, David Gilmour, Magazine, and Bono. He has hosted the music-based BBC2 program “Laterwith Jools Holland” since 1992, and he has served as an associate producer on the show. Jools also produced the TV specials “Raise the Roof! Concert for Prostate Cancer UK” (2022) and the “Jools Holland Annual Hootenanny” (2023). In 2004, he released an album with Tom Jones called “Tom Jones & Jools Holland,” and it reached #5 on the UK Albums Chart and was certified Gold in the U.K. Jools has published the books “Rolling Stones”: A Life on the Road” (1998), “Beat Route: Journeys Through Six Counties” (1998), “Ray Charles: Man and Music” (1999), and “Barefaced Lies and Boogie-woogie Boasts” (2007). In 2003, he was appointed an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to the British music industry as a musician and television presenter. Holland has also been appointed a Deputy Lieutenant (DL) for Kent (2006), an honorary fellow of Canterbury Christ Church University (2009), and an honorary colonel of 101 (City of London) Engineer Regiment (2011).
Jools Holland was born Julian Miles Holland on January 24, 1958, in Blackheath, London, England. According to Holland’s official website, “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.” Jools lived with his grandparents during his teenage years, and he attended Shooters Hill Grammar School until he was expelled for damaging a teacher’s car. Holland met his future Squeeze bandmates Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook at the age of 15.
Jools was a member of Squeeze from 1974 to 1980, and he performed on the band’s first three albums, “Squeeze” (1978), “Cool for Cats” (1979), and “Argybargy” (1980), before leaving the group to pursue a solo career. “Cool for Cats” was certified Gold in Australia and Silver in the U.K., and the title track and the single “Up the Junction” reached #2 on the UK Singles Chart. “Argybargy” went Gold in Canada and was ranked #58 on “The 200 Greatest Power Pop Albums” list in the John M. Borack book “Shake Some Action: The Ultimate Guide to Power Pop.” Holland returned to Squeeze in 1985 and appeared on the studio albums “Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti” (1985), “Babylon and On” (1987), and “Frank” (1989) and the live album “A Round and a Bout” (1990). “Babylon and On” reached #14 on the UK Albums Chart and was certified Silver in the U.K. In 1978, Jools released the solo EP “Boogie Woogie ’78,” and he followed it with the albums “Jools Holland and His Millionaires” (1981) and “Jools Holland Meets Rock ‘A’ Boogie Billy” (1984).
Jools’ 1996 album “Sex & Jazz & Rock & Roll” peaked at #38 on the UK Albums Chart, and 1998’s “The Best Of” and 2000’s “Hop The Wag” were certified Silver in the U.K. The 2 Platinum album “Small World Big Band” (2001) reached #8 on the UK Albums Chart and #23 on the Official New Zealand Music Chart, and the 2002 Platinum album “SWBB Volume Two: More Friends” reached #17 and #44 on those charts, respectively. “Jack O The Green” (2003), “Best of Friends” (2007), and “The Golden Age of Song” (2012) were certified Silver in the U.K., and 2004’s “Tom Jones & Jools Holland” went Gold. In 2017, Holland released the album “As You See Me Now” with Jos Feliciano, and it peaked at #24 on the UK Albums Chart. He collaborated with Marc Almond on the 2018 album “A Lovely Life to Live,” and in late 2023, it was announced that Jools had teamed up with Rod Stewart to record the album “Swing Fever.” He began hosting “Later… with Jools Holland” in 1992, and in 2000, the British Film Institute ranked the program #81 on its “BFI TV 100” list of the 100 best British TV shows of the 20th century.
On August 30, 2005, Jools married Christabel McEwen, his girlfriend of 15 years. The wedding was attended by many of the couple’s celebrity friends, including Ringo Starr, Robbie Coltrane, Stephen Fry, Lenny Henry, Noel Gallagher, Dawn French, and Jennifer Saunders. The couple welcomed daughter Mabel together, and Holland is stepfather to Frederick, Christabel’s son from her marriage to the 7th Earl of Durham, Ned Lambton. Jools also has two children, Rose and George, with his former partner Mary Leahy.
In January 2019, Holland graced the cover of “Railway Modeller” magazine. He spent a decade building a model railway measuring 100 feet, and as he described it, “The layout begins with 25′ of Europe culminating in the Ghentwerp Container Port. Beyond a compressed English Channel/River Thames we reach a tatty post-war London with its docks, pubs and bomb sites. Each 10′ or so the scenes move chronologically along through the decades from the 1950s to the present. This gave me the great excuse to enjoy creating architectural capriccios, a working Motorway network, underground rail connections and much more.” In 2018, he became the British Watch & Clock Makers Guild’s president. In 2006, Jools took part in an event for Mildmay, an HIV/AIDS charity, and the following year, he performed at Rochester Cathedral and Wells Cathedral to raise funds for maintenance of the cathedral buildings. He has also been a patron of the arts charity Drake Music, which “work[s] with Disabled people of all ages, from school children having their first instrumental lessons to professional Disabled musicians.”
In 2010, Holland won a Sony Radio Academy Silver Award for Best Specialist Music Programme for his BBC Radio 2 Show and a Sony Gold award for Music Broadcaster of the Year. “Later… With Jools Holland” won a Television and Radio Industries Club Award for TV Music and Arts Programme in 2003 and earned a BAFTA Award nomination for Entertainment Programme in 2023.
A 2023 “KentLive” article described Holland’s home as a “14th-century castle built to guard the area against French raids into the Thames Estuary.” The castle was damaged during a 1554 siege by Sir Thomas Wyatt. According to the article, “A manor house and outbuildings were constructed in the ruins of the castle, which isn’t open to the public due to the poor condition of its structure. The manor house is now the home of pianist and original member of the band Squeeze Jools Holland.”
