Jacob Collier

Jacob Collier is an English singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and educator whose recordings bring jazz together with soul, pop, R&B, electronic music, funk and classical ideas. His work often uses elaborate reharmonisation and close vocal harmony, approaches that have also shaped his live shows. Onstage, he frequently conducts audiences in multipart singing and percussion.

Born in London on 2 August 1994, Collier first drew wide attention in 2013 through split-screen YouTube covers of popular songs, including Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t You Worry ’bout a Thing.” Herbie Hancock and Quincy Jones became friends with him after hearing and seeing the cover in 2014. Rather than immediately pursuing a conventional label route, Collier chose to remain independent while making his first album, initially performing every instrumental and vocal part himself.

His debut, In My Room, arrived in 2016. Collier recorded, arranged, performed and produced the album in the back room of his family home in Finchley, North London. Its arrangements of the “Flintstones” theme and Stevie Wonder’s “You and I” earned Grammy Awards in 2017.

In 2018, Collier began work on Djesse, a four-volume, 50-song project involving more than two dozen artists and ensembles. Djesse Vol. 1, featuring the Metropole Orkest, was released in December 2018; the more acoustically focused Djesse Vol. 2 followed in July 2019, with Djesse Vol. 3 released in 2020 and the final instalment, Djesse Vol. 4, in March 2024. His arrangements of “All Night Long (All Night)” and “Moon River” won Grammys in 2020, while “He Won’t Hold You” from Djesse Vol. 3 won in 2021. That made him the first British artist to receive a Grammy Award for each of his first four albums. In 2025, he received his seventh Grammy for “Bridge Over Troubled Water” from Djesse Vol. 4, extending his run to five consecutive albums with at least one Grammy win.