Bio : Jacob Collier
Where to start when detailing the impact that 29-year-old producer, multi-instrumentalist and composer Jacob Collier has had on the global music scene? Recognized by audiences, critics, and fellow musicians alike as one of the most gifted young artists of modern times, Collier already has a seemingly endless list of achievements including six Grammy wins – which saw him become the first British act in history to win four Grammys for each of his first four albums – along with 12 Grammy nominations including Album of the Year in 2021.
As a result, his roster of collaborators is astoundingly varied and vibrant; there is Coldplay’s Chris Martin, who he joined for three nights of a sold out run at London’s Wembley Stadium in August 2022, as well as featuring on the group’s 2021 song “Human Heart”. Collier is a close musical confidante of Stormzy having not only worked with the superstar UK rapper as a cowriter, performer and featured artist on his landmark album This Is What I Mean, but also alongside Shawn Mendes and Kirk Franklin on his own single “Witness Me”. Collier co-wrote and sang on the international 2020 hit “Good Days” with SZA, featured John Mayer on his 2022 single “Never Gonna Be Alone”, and helped Oscar-winner Hans Zimmer score the 2017 and 2021 feature films Boss Baby and its sequel Boss Baby: Family Business. In his own projects, Collier has worked with an unpredictable cast of artistic powerhouses, from Malian singer Oumou Sangaré to T-Pain, Ty Dolla $ign, Daniel Caesar, Tori Kelly and John Legend (to name a few). Each artist has sought out Collier’s distinct musical identity, cementing his status as the conduit for a generation’s ineffable creativity.
He has left such a mark on the artistic landscape already that the BBC profiled him in an hour-long Imagine special - making him one of the youngest participants in its 19 years on the network. Other media have also followed suit, as Collier has been profiled by VOGUE, the New York Times, Harpers Bazaar and on the cover of The Guardian’s culture supplement, has recorded two NPR Tiny Desks, has spoken at the world-renowned TED conference, and has performed on TV shows around the world including the BBC’s Later with Jools Holland, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
Exploding onto the global stage with the viral success of his multi-frame, multi-instrumental YouTube covers, Collier caught the attention of Quincy Jones and under his mentorship released his debut album, In My Room, in 2016. Recorded, produced and played entirely by Collier, In My Room heralded the arrival of a staggering musical mind, traversing everything from microtonal of the Flintstones theme to folk-influenced ballads. An ensuing one-man-band international tour saw Collier developing an innovative live show (“By the end of Jacob Collier’s set, it was difficult to imagine how anything could follow it, let alone equal it” DAILY TELEGRAPH ★★★★★) where he played and layered 12 instruments to recreate the world of In My Room onstage. “My audiences are so musical and they participate so readily in the music,” he says. “When I play live, I’m not just showing up to entertain, it feels like we’re all coming together to make music in unison.”
That natural pull towards musical collaboration went on to inform Collier’s plans for his ensuing four-part Djesse series of albums. “After being on my own for In My Room, I realised I wanted to work with other people and learn from them,” he says. “I decided to make a quadruple album including every genre under the sun, where each collaborator made music that was special to me. I wanted to plunge myself into the deepest possible waters of creativity.”
The resulting volumes of Djesse have delivered on Collier’s ambitious promise, featuring an incredible array of collaborators, and musical themes that encompass everything from orchestral composition to folk songwriting, R&B, rap and pop. “The key skill to collaboration is drawing things out of people that they didn’t know they had in them,” he says. “It’s all about being taken by surprise and holding the potential for things changing.”
While on his 2019 Djesse world tour, Collier experienced one such moment of surprise that would go on to shape his final volume in the series. In San Francisco, he decided to lead his audience in an acapella singalong, conducting them to create new chords in the process. It was a spontaneous, enlivening moment that swiftly became a key ritual throughout his encores on his 2022 & 2023 DJESSE World Tour. “It’s a rousing improvised choral performance that has become an anthem in my life,” Collier says. “I’ve done over 70 shows conducting the audience like that and it never fails, no matter where you go. There's something that really moves me about all these people finding themselves in these moments of collective singing.”
Most recently, Jacob has concluded the Djesse “quadrilogy” with his final installment, Djesse Vol. 4, having been released on February 29, 2024 released on a leap day (an ode to it coming every four years). Djesse Vol. 4 includes a total of 16 sweeping songs and a staggering list of special guests. Chris Martin, aespa, Michael McDonald, Camilo, Brandi Carlile, Madison Cunningham, Chris Thile, Yelle, CHIKA, Anoushka Shankar, The Aeolians 2018 Choir, Lindsey Lomis and his mother Suzie Collier all appear on top of the album’s connective thread and beating heart: a collective “Audience Choir” of 150,000 fans’ voices, which Collier recorded in every corner of the world.
Ultimately, although Collier has already achieved more than most artists could hope for in a lifetime, he is still restlessly creative. He has plans for future projects centered on solo piano, orchestras, and film scoring, while he has written for a forthcoming West End musical on the life of opera singer Luciano Pavarotti. “I’m just following my voice to see where it takes me next,” he says. “I’m keeping my mind and ears open, as there is still so much more to discover and create.” With such an ineffable and unpredictable career to date, the only certainty is that Collier will continue to surprise and delight, no matter which avenue he explores next.