Words matter. These are the best Jools Holland Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
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.
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.
I do so much travelling in my work that my suitcase is always packed, with my passport ready. I rarely unpack, as I am constantly on the move.
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.
I love the Queen. I’ve had a crush on her since I was eight.
Music can lift the spirit; it can make you cry. Soldiers have marched into battle to music. It’s a powerful thing.
The first thing I learned was the ‘St Louis Blues’ when I was eight. Both my grandmothers, my mother and uncle played the piano. This was post-war Britain, and they played boogie woogie and blues, which was the underground music of the time.
I only know about a few things, but I am quite good at bluffing. There are a whole range of subjects, including the Renaissance, which I am prepared to sound expert on.
Due to my work, I tend to stay in hotels a lot of the time, and I generally prefer smaller hotels, as you tend to get better service than in the larger hotels.
‘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.’
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.
The piano has disappeared from working-class family life, which is a shame. It’s associated with the middle classes now. Everyone in my family sang and played piano, but my parents were delighted and amazed when I became the first professional performer in the family – apart from a clog-dancer way back.
As a bandleader, I try to pass on the same family values that I grew up with: help people, hang on to your sense of humour, be tolerant, and keep your judgments to yourself.
I am a keen medievalist and like going around museums and ruins and finding out about the people and local culture. I’m not one for sitting by a pool or lying on a beach. I also like to sketch while I’m on holiday, if I have time.
‘The Tube’ was the first time the plebs had gone on the television. The lunatics taking over the asylum.
I learned from Van Morrison and BB King that the first take is the best. It’s about capturing a moment. It’s the same as love’s first kiss. If you try to do it again, it doesn’t work so well.
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.
A good example of the modern world is the Eurotunnel. And mobile phones – I like them.
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.
