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Jacob Collier

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Jacob Collier is an English singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and teacher. He was born on 2 August 1994 and grew up in north London. His mother Suzie Collier is a violinist, conductor and teacher at the Junior Academy of the Royal Academy of Music, and his grandfather was a violinist. At home they sang Bach chorales. At ten he played Tiny Tim in the 2004 film A Christmas Carol. He attended the Purcell School and briefly studied jazz piano at the Royal Academy.

Music and breakthrough

In 2011 he began uploading home-made videos to YouTube, first with a vocal arrangement of Pure Imagination, in 2013 with a version of Stevie Wonder's Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing. He played and sang all the parts himself, in split-screen footage. In 2014 he became friends with Herbie Hancock and Quincy Jones. He remained independent and made his first album himself. In 2017 he won Grammys for his arrangements of the Flintstones theme and Wonder's You and I.

Influence

From 2018 he worked on Djesse, an album in four parts and fifty songs with more than twenty artists and ensembles. The first part, with the Metropole Orkest, appeared in December 2018. His music combines jazz with other genres and makes much use of reharmonisation and dense harmonies. In his live shows, with circles of instruments and loop stations, he gets the audience to sing. Collier showed that a young musician could reach an audience of his own via the internet and that harmony can captivate an audience.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to his version of You and I and notice the chords beneath the melody: where does a harmony surprise you, and how many voices do you hear at once?

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

See also

Categories: ArtistsNu jazz