Jacob Collier (born 2 August 1994) is an English singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and educator. His music incorporates a combination of jazz and elements from other musical genres, and often features extensive use of reharmonisations and close harmony. He is known for his energetic live performances, in which he often conducts the audience to sing harmony or play percussion parts.[1] Collier demonstrates his harmonic expertise in lectures and master classes, particularly with his detailed analyses of songs like Stevie Wonder's "Sir Duke" and his own music.[2]
In 2013, his split-screen video covers of popular songs, such as Stevie Wonder's "Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing", began to go viral on YouTube. In 2014, Collier signed with Quincy Jones's management company and began working on his one-man, audio-visual live performance vehicle, designed and built at the MIT Media Lab by Ben Bloomberg.[3] In 2016, Collier released his debut album, In My Room, which he recorded, arranged, performed and produced himself in the back room of his family home in Finchley, North London.[4]
In 2018, Collier began working on Djesse, a four-volume, 50-song album featuring more than two dozen artists and ensembles. The first volume, which featured the Metropole Orkest, Djesse Vol. 1, was released in December 2018. The second, Djesse Vol. 2, used more acoustic instrumentation and was released in July 2019. The third volume, Djesse Vol. 3, was released in 2020. The fourth and final volume for the album, Djesse Vol. 4, was released in March 2024.
In 2017, Collier was awarded Grammy Awards for his arrangements of the "Flintstones" theme and Stevie Wonder's "You and I" on his first album.[5] In 2020, Collier won Grammy Awards for his arrangements of "All Night Long (All Night)" from Djesse Vol. 1 and "Moon River" from Djesse Vol. 2. In 2021, he won a Grammy Award for "He Won't Hold You" from Djesse Vol. 3., making him the first British artist to receive a Grammy Award for each of his first four albums.[6]Djesse Vol. 4 was nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year.
Early life
Collier was born on 2 August 1994.[7][8] He grew up in North London with two younger sisters.[9] His mother, Suzie Collier, is a violinist, conductor, and professor at the Royal Academy of Music's Junior Academy.[10] His maternal grandfather, Derek Collier, was a violinist who also taught at the Royal Academy and performed with orchestras around the world. Collier has said: "We sing Bach chorales together as family—it's just so much fun."[9] He is partly of Chinese descent through his maternal grandmother, Leila Wong.[11][12]
At age 10, Collier portrayed Tiny Tim in the Arthur Allan Seidelman film A Christmas Carol (2004).[13] At the same time he was performing as a treble singer in classical roles, such as one of the three boys in Mozart's The Magic Flute and Miles in Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw, which influenced his use and understanding of harmony.[9] Of Britten's harmonic language, he said, "My mind was shattered outwards."[9] He received the ABRSM Gold Medal for the highest mark in the country for his grade eight singing result in 2008.[14]
Collier began uploading homemade, multi-instrumental content to YouTube in 2011 with a vocal arrangement of "Pure Imagination" from the 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and in 2013 a multi-instrumental rendition of Stevie Wonder's "Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing". The videos presented split-screen multitrack recordings of Collier singing each part of the arrangements' harmonies. These videos gained attention with the "Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing" cover receiving millions of views. His musical activity caught the attention of Quincy Jones,[9] who flew Collier to the Montreux Jazz Festival where he was introduced to Herbie Hancock.[17]
In 2015, Collier launched a live show and toured Europe and the US.[18] The performances featured a circle of musical instruments, with six simultaneous looping stations capable of simultaneous playback, backed by synced real-time 3D-captured video loops, projected onto a screen behind the instruments. Central to the show was a custom-built vocal "Harmonizer" instrument that enabled Collier to sing multi-voice harmonies in real-time.[19][18] The show debuted at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London,[20] and Collier later opened for Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea at the 2015 Montreux Jazz Festival.[20]
In July 2015, Beats by Dr. Dre asked Collier to provide music for "The Game Starts Here" England Rugby World Cup campaign commercial.[21] Collier recorded an a cappella version of the hymn "Jerusalem" for the commercial, which was shown on national television before each England match.[22]
Jacob Collier's live solo show in 2015
In late 2015, Collier began preparing his debut album In My Room after performing with WDR Big Band in a concert in Cologne, Germany.[23][24] He wrote eight of the eleven songs and arranged, recorded and produced the album in the music room of his family home, playing every instrument himself. He recorded and mixed the album over three months.[25] The album was mastered by Bernie Grundman[26] and released on 1 July 2016 through independent record label Membran Entertainment Group. Collier embarked on a one-man world tour which included the 2016 Montreux Jazz Festival.[27]
In anticipation of the album's release, Collier launched the "#IHarmU" campaign through Patreon. 100 patrons sent him 15-second video clips of melodies, which he harmonised with vocal parts on his multi-screen layout and uploaded to social media. Collier received more than 130 melodies and donations, including from British jazz artist Jamie Cullum, Ben Folds, Herbie Hancock, and Kevin Olusola of the a cappella group Pentatonix. He arranged "White Christmas" for them; it appeared on A Pentatonix Christmas and won a Contemporary A Cappella Society award for Best Professional Arrangement by a Non-Scholastic Group.[28]
In December 2016, Collier collaborated with 150 students at MIT to produce a live concert in Kresge Auditorium, titled "Imagination Off the Charts", playing alongside orchestral arrangements of his repertoire. This residency was the subject of a documentary film,[32][33]Imagination Off The Charts, which won a regional Emmy in June 2018.[34]
Collier toured internationally for two and a half years between 1 July 2015 and 18 December 2017,[42][43] while hosting masterclasses and performances with orchestras and big bands around the world, including the Metropole Orkest. On 9 July, he and Cory Henry performed with the Metropole Orkest and Jules Buckley at the North Sea Jazz Festival.[44] In July 2018, he was one of the guests at Quincy Jones's 85th birthday party celebrations at the Montreux Jazz Club. On 19 July, "Jacob Collier and Friends" performed as part of the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
On 29 October 2018, Collier announced a new four-volume, 50-song musical project, entitled Djesse.[19] He titled it as such as a clever reference to his initials: JC (Djesse, with a silent "D", is pronounced like "JC").[45]Djesse Vol. 1 was released in full on 7 December,[46] and featured the singles "With The Love in My Heart", "Ocean Wide, Canyon Deep" and "All Night Long". The volume features collaborations with various artists and includes The Metropole Orkest on every track. Collier produced, arranged, and orchestrated the music, in addition to singing and playing various instruments.[47] In January 2019, Collier embarked on a world tour in support of the Djesse series.[46][48]
Djesse Vol. 2 was released on 19 July 2019, featuring musical collaborations with various artists as well as an a cappella arrangement of "Moon River" with over a hundred vocal contributions from family members, mentors, friends, and other collaborators.[49] At the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards, Djesse Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 each won a Grammy award for "All Night Long" and "Moon River", respectively.[50][51] The same year, Collier provided backing vocals for several tracks on Coldplay's eighth studio album, Everyday Life.[52]
Djesse Vol. 3, released on 14 August 2020,[53] features collaborations with various artists[54] and received several Grammy nominations in 2021. It was nominated for the Album of the Year, and the single "All I Need" was nominated for Best R&B Performance. "He Won't Hold You" won Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals,[55] making Collier the first British artist to win a Grammy Award for each of his first four albums.[6] In November 2020, Collier released the book Songs of Jacob Collier, featuring solo piano and vocal arrangements for 19 of his compositions.
Collier co-wrote and provided background vocals for SZA's single "Good Days," released on 25 December 2020.[56] He also contributed background vocals to Coldplay and BTS's "My Universe", which topped the Billboard Hot 100 in October 2021.[57][58] This track is part of Coldplay's ninth album Music of the Spheres, which also features Collier on the track "Human Heart."[59] In 2022, he collaborated with British rapper Stormzy on the album This Is What I Mean.[60] Collier received two nominations at the 65th Grammy Awards: Best Arrangement, Instruments And Vocals for his single “Never Gonna Be Alone” and Album Of The Year for his contributions to Music of The Spheres.[61] Additionally, he appeared in Olivia Rodrigo's documentary film Olivia Rodrigo: Driving Home 2 U as one of the special guests.[62]
On 2 May 2022, Collier was the subject of Alan Yentob's BBC One television documentary series Imagine..., in the episode Jacob Collier: In the Room Where It Happens.[63] On 29 September 2022, Collier released his first live album, Piano Ballads (Live From The Djesse World Tour 2022), which includes 11 covers largely improvised by Collier on stage, many of which involve a spontaneous audience choir.[64]
Collier came from a family of musicians and was introduced to music at an early age. With the support of his mother, he learned to play various instruments and became acquainted with musical concepts. His recording career began in the family home, in a room filled with instruments where his mother used to teach violin lessons.[citation needed] He recorded himself singing and playing instruments, mostly covers of jazz standards or pop songs, using a split screen recording technique to display his vocals, and uploaded the recordings to YouTube.[citation needed] The videos often featured use of reharmonisation, close harmony, dissonance, microtonality and polyrhythms.[72]
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