Jake Patrick Robert Hook is an English, million-seller songwriter, producer and arranger. Hook signed with EMI, in December 2009, on the strength of the single " Coming Home" by

The Soldiers The Soldiers is a singing trio consisting of serving British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, ...

Origins

Jake Hook was born in the

London Borough of Camden The London Borough of Camden () is a London boroughs, borough in Inner London, England. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the former Metropolitan boroughs of the Cou ...

, and raised with his younger brother in Southgate,

North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames and the City of London. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshi ...

, by his Irish Catholic mother and English Protestant father. At age eight, he attended the

Chickenshed Chickenshed (also known as Chicken Shed or the Chicken Shed Theatre Company) is a British theatre company based in Southgate, London. History Chickenshed was founded by teacher Mary Ward and composer Jo Collins in 1974. Mary and Jo hosted their ...

Theatre. Inheriting his great grandmother's piano had inspired him to learn to play. Hook suffers from

dyslexia Dyslexia (), previously known as word blindness, is a learning disability that affects either reading or writing. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, reading quickly, wri ...

, making him unable to read sheet music. He learned to play the piano by lying underneath the theatre's

baby grand piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

, memorising how chords were formed and sounded until he could play tunes in his head. Hook also plays

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

, drums and acoustic guitar. He has participated in four London musicals. Hook appeared in

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

drama ''The Biz'', and sang backup for

Meat Loaf Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27, 1947 – January 20, 2022), known professionally by his stage name Meat Loaf, was an American singer and actor. He was known for his powerful, wide-ranging voice and theatrical live shows. ...

. He appeared in the Top 15 hit "I'm in Love with the World" in 1997. Hook attended

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

University. His musical influences include

Janet Jackson Janet Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and dancer. She is noted for her innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows. Her sound and choreogr ...

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling rec ...

and

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and human rights activist. He came to prominence as the original frontman of the rock band Genesis. He left the band in 1975 and launched a solo career wit ...

Music career

Singer-songwriter

Hook self-funded his debut album of seventeen original songs, ''Record on the Blag'' in 2004. The entire album was completely 'Blagged' (got for free). The music video for the first single "Smooth" (recorded at Elstree Film Studios), a documentary about Jake, the studio time, and all the musicians were also 'blagged'. Hook performed alongside

Jamelia Jamelia Niela Davis (born 11 January 1981) is a British singer, actress and television personality. Her three studio albums each peaked inside the Top 40 and they spawned eight top-10 singles. In addition, Jamelia has won four MOBO Awards, a Q ...

Jenny Frost Jennifer Frost (born 22 February 1978) is an English singer and television presenter. She is best known as member of girl groups Precious and Atomic Kitten, replacing Kerry Katona in the latter. Biography Frost was born in Wallasey, Merseysi ...

The Cheeky Girls The Cheeky Girls are a Romanian singing duo consisting of identical twin sisters Gabriela and Monica Irimia. After appearing as auditionees on '' Popstars: The Rivals'', they achieved success in the UK charts with four top 10 hits between 2002 ...

, Phixx and

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is a British singer and actor. He has total sales of over 21.5 million singles in the United Kingdom and, as of 2012, was the third-top-selling artist in UK Singles Chart histo ...

during a European tour, promoting the album. In 2006 after numerous label changes, Hook founded his own label, LBM Records, sourced with financial backing from around the world.

CBBC CBBC is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 to 12. Its sister c ...

commissioned "Seaside Day Out", a song by Hook which received 250,000 downloads in one week, on the BBC Interactive Service. He co-wrote a song for

CBeebies CBeebies is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content targeted for children aged six year ...

programme ''

Tikkabilla ''Tikkabilla'' is a British children's television programme, shown on CBeebies. The programme aims to educate preschool children in an entertaining manner. The title "Tikkabilla" comes from the Hindi word meaning "Hopscotch", a popular children' ...

'', with producer Francis Haines. Hook has written a part-autobiographical album ''The Butterfly Observations'', dubbed the 'torch song' album of the new age, which is still in production. "Elusive You" from the album was released and charted in several territories. Hook turned his hand at producing with the DoubleH remix of sixties icon

Beryl Marsden Beryl Marsden (born 10 June 1947) is a British R&B and pop singer, who first came to notice on the Liverpool club scene of the early 1960s. She recorded a number of "powerful and soulful", Biography by Bruce Eder at Allmusic/ref> but unsucces ...

's single "Baby It's You".

Performer

In 2007, Hook took to the road on a mini tour with ''

Fame Academy ''Fame Academy'' was a British television talent competition to search for and educate new musical talents. The winner would receive a chance to become a successful music artist and part of the international franchise ''Star Academy'' known un ...

'' winner

David Sneddon David Sneddon (born 15 September 1978) is a Scottish singer, songwriter, musician and music producer of contemporary pop music. He began his career performing on stage and television, singing lead roles in stage musicals in Glasgow. In 2002, ...

. He released ''Live Sessions EP'' with songs "Fireflies, Waterfalls, Elusive You" and "Snowglobes". He was featured as artist of the week by 7digital indiestore: : ''"In the final instalment, comes perhaps our favourite. Veering from Eighties funkatering ('Elusive You') to gorgeous gas mark 9 balladeering ('FireFlies') without batting an eye, it is all utterly marvellous stuff."'' In June 1997, the singles "Wanna" and "SXY" tracks include ''Crave'', ''Sunsets'', ''In Flagrante'', ''Satisfied?'' ''Wanna'', ''Silent Whispers'' and ''Purple Sky'' was released with much success. Hook continued to write songs of different styles and genres. In 2008 & 2009, Hook could be found gigging in various London venues. He supported

Billy Ocean Leslie Sebastian Charles (born 21 January 1950), known professionally as Billy Ocean, is a Trinidadian-born British singer and songwriter. Between 1976 and 1988, he had a series of hit songs in the UK and internationally. After releasing sev ...

at the Royal Lancaster Hotel, at a prestigious charity event.

Songwriter

Hook began working with other songwriters in late 2008. A song written by one of these partnerships brought Hook to the attention of seven-time Classical Brit award-winning producer Nick Patrick (

Russell Watson Russell Watson (born 24 November 1966) is an English crossover/popular singer, almost in the tenor range, who has released singles and albums of both quasi-operatic-style and pop songs. He began singing as a child, and became known after per ...

Katherine Jenkins Katherine Jenkins (born 29 June 1980) is a Welsh singer. She is a mezzo-soprano and performs operatic arias, popular songs, musical theatre, and hymns.The Soldiers The Soldiers is a singing trio consisting of serving British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, ...

(Warner UK). The debut single " Coming Home" co-written by Jake Hook, Nick Patrick and Jeff Chegwin, music and arrangement by Hook, produced by Patrick was released in early October. The album of the same name was released on 26 October, entered the

UK album chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Offici ...

at number 4, later went on to sell over 600,000 copies and certified double platinum status by the

British Phonographic Industry BPI (British Recorded Music Industry) Limited, trading as British Phonographic Industry (BPI), is the British recorded music industry's trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards; is home to the Mercury Prize; co-owns the Official Charts C ...

(BPI) in the UK alone. On 13 January 2010, Alan Titchmarsh (The Alan Titchmarsh Show) gave The Soldiers their double platinum disc, he later said "I enjoyed The Soldiers today, I got their album for Christmas and going double-platinum is well deserved". The second single "A Soldier's Christmas Letter" also featured on the album ''Coming Home'' was written, programmed and arranged by Hook, released on 7 December and charted in the UK Singles Chart at number 65. Hook also programmed and vocally arranged on the Classical Brit nominated album ''Together'' by classical crossover act

Blake Blake or Blake's may refer to: People * Blake (given name), a given name of English origin (includes a list of people with the name) * Blake (surname), a surname of English origin (includes a list of people with the name) ** William Blake (1757 ...

(EMI). In 2010, Hook's work will be heard on the yet-to-be-released album ''Home'' by New Zealand's Elizabeth Marvelly (EMI). On 16 January 2010

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as ''Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music We ...

listed Hook amongst the 'Movers, Shakers and Dead certs' – and one of EMI's signings of note in 2009, alongside

JLS JLS (initialism for Jack the Lad Swing) are a British boy band consisting of members Aston Merrygold, Oritsé Williams, Marvin Humes, and JB Gill; Williams formed the band. They initially signed with Tracklacers production company New Tr ...

Guy Chambers Guy Antony Chambers (born 12 January 1963) is an English songwriter, musician and record producer, best known for his work with Robbie Williams. Education Chambers attended Quarry Bank Comprehensive School sixth form in Liverpool. From 18, ...

and

Nadine Coyle Nadine Elizabeth Louise Coyle (born 15 June 1985) is an Irish singer. In 2002, she was selected as a member of Girls Aloud, a Pop music, pop girl group created through ITV (TV network), ITV's reality competition show ''Popstars: The Rivals''. T ...

. Hook has also written for Tara McDonald,

Kitty Brucknell Kimberley Dayle Edwards (born 15 November 1984), formerly known professionally as Kitty Brucknell, is an English pop singer. She rose to fame as a contestant on the eighth series of ''The X Factor'' in 2011, where she finished in seventh place ...

and

Rylan Clark Ross Richard Clark (born 25 October 1988), commonly known as Rylan Clark, is an English broadcaster and television personality. He came to prominence as a contestant on the The X Factor (British series 9), ninth series of the television talent s ...

Discography

The following are music singles or albums released by Jake Hook (as singer/songwriter/programmer or producer).

Singles

* "Smooth" (2004) No. 32 Belgium Singles Chart * "Elusive You" (2006) * "Wanna" (2007) #1 UK Indie Chart * "

Baby It's You "Baby It's You" is a song written by Burt Bacharach (music), Luther Dixon (credited as Barney Williams), and Mack David (lyrics). It was recorded by the Shirelles and the Beatles and was a hit for both. The highest-charting version of "Baby It ...

" 2007

* "Too Late" (2008) Beryl Marsden * "Hey Santa (Bring my Baby Back)" (2008/9) No. 2 UK Indie Breakers * " Coming Home" –

(2009) No. 4 UK Chart * "Unsung Hero" –

(2009) * "A Soldier's Christmas Letter" – The Soldiers (2009) No. 65 UK Chart * "Letters Home" – The Soldiers (2010) * "Cherry Whispers" – Janice Kephart ft. Jake Hook * "If You Can" – FourNurses (2011) * "Coming Home" – The Diggers (2011) * "And The Boys Go Wild" – The Tootsie Rollers (2012) * "Unknown Soldier" (2013)- Gary Chilton from

* "Stay Safe, Save Lives" (2020) The Soldiers * "Hey Santa! (Bring My Baby Back)" (2021) * "Alexandra Hill / BattleScars" (2022)

Albums

* " Diana Princess of Wales Tribute" (1997) No. 15 Billboard

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

* ''Record on the Blag'' (2005) LBM Records * "

Cbeebies CBeebies is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content targeted for children aged six year ...

Album" (2006) emon Music Group* "Best Of, So Far" Jake Hook (2007) No. 52 iTunes Album Chart LBM Records * '' Coming Home'' –

(2009) No. 4 UK Album charts x2 Platinum

Warner Music Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and the third-largest in the gl ...

* ''Together'' –

(2009) No. 36 UK Album Charts

EMI Music EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), c ...

* ''Love Songs'' – The Soldiers (2010) 2.4 Million Copies

* ''No Space For Air'' –

Julie Atherton Julie Atherton is a British actress, singer and director. She is best known for originating the role of Kate Monster and Lucy the Slut in the West End production of ''Avenue Q''. and playing Sister Mary Robert in the first UK tour of ''Sister ...

(2010) Speckulation Entertainment * '' Letters Home'' – The Soldiers (2010) no.10 UK album charts x1 Platinum

* ''Coming Home'' – The Soldiers (2010) US Release

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

* ''Men in Scarlet'' – The

Chelsea Pensioners A Chelsea Pensioner, or In-Pensioner, is a resident at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, an Old soldiers' home, Old Soldiers' retirement home and nursing home for former members of the British Army located in Chelsea, London. The Royal Hospital Chelsea ...

(2010) no. 14 UK album charts x1 Gold

* ''Father Christmas Sings'' – Father Christmas (2010) No. 30 Album Charts Lapland Records * ''Guiding You'' – FourNurses (2011) No. 45 UK Album Charts

* ''Home'' – Elizabeth Marvelly (2011) No. 6 New Zealand Album Charts

* "Best Of, The Soldiers"

(2011)

* "Message To You"

(2011) No. 11 UK Album Charts x1 Gold

Demon Music Group Demon Music Group Limited (DMG; formerly Object Enterprises Limited from 19821991 and Music Collection International Limited from 19912000) is a record company owned by BBC Studios that is mainly concerned with back-catalogue rights and re-iss ...

* "Changes"

(2012) Cherry Red * "Jubilee Anthems" Various Artists (2012)

* "Christmas with the Soldiers"

(2012)

* "TBC" Elizabeth Marvelly (2013) Label TBC * "Greatest Christmas Classics" (2013) Demon Music Group * "AXELF The 2000s", (2014) Demon Music Group * "Resurgence"

Allan Clarke (singer) Harold Allan Clarke (born 5 April 1942) is an English rock singer who was one of the founding members and the original lead singer of the Hollies. He achieved international hit singles with the group and is credited as co-writer on several o ...

(2019)

BMG Rights Management BMG Rights Management GmbH (also known simply as BMG) is an international music company based in Berlin, Germany. It combines the activities of a music publisher and a record label. BMG was formed in October 2008 after Bertelsmann sold its st ...

* "Christmas Gold", The Soldiers (2020) Demon Music Group

EPs

* ''Smooth Ep'' (2005) * ''Live Sessions'' (2007) * ''SXY'' (2007)

References

External links

Jake Hook Website
– information, photos, bio
Jake Hook on Myspace

Jake Hook on Reverbnation
– Jake blogs, photos, music {{DEFAULTSORT:Hook, Jake Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Alumni of Middlesex University People educated at Southgate School English people of Irish descent English pop singers English record producers English male singer-songwriters English singer-songwriters Singers from the London Borough of Camden People from Winchmore Hill Musicians from the London Borough of Camden People from Southgate, London Singers from the London Borough of Enfield Musicians from the London Borough of Enfield