If you could duet with anyone dead or alive who would it be?

Elvis Presley and Leona Lewis… Elvis because he is the king – and Leona because she rocks and she's pretty and well yes she has an amazing voice, very powerful and her performances are always spot on! I think I’d also love to do a session with The Beach Boys, think that would be pretty wild.

Who are your musical influences?

Coffee and Cookies… No seriously musically Elvis was a big influence when I was younger, also Billy Joel, but I think as I’ve got older I’ve widened my influences to artists and bands such as: Peter Gabriel, Counting Crows, George Michael and Richard Marx…

How do you write your songs? Do you start with the music or the lyrics?

The lyrics and melody come together as I’m playing. I start with the title and perhaps the hook line and then I write the song around that hook. If I’m writing with another artist I tend do it the other way around, where lyrics come first and a tune is made up after.

Can you play any instruments if so which ones and do you have a favourite?

I can play the piano, flute, drums and guitar – I want to learn the harmonica ! My favourite is the piano, it’s an amazing instrument that can help create total atmosphere

How did you get into music, was it from an early age?

My Great grandmother left me her old upright piano in her will – and that’s pretty much the start. I started writing little tunes from the age of 6, usually about how crappy school was. By 12 I had written a musical, sadly I never got to put it on! Maybe one day!

Do you have any musical training?

They tried and they failed

Which of your songs are you most proud of?

I’m proud of every song I do, but perhaps most proud of Fireflies, it marks a change in my song writing career. It’s when I changed my habits and style and I got a totally “me” song.

Where were you born, and do you still live there?

I was born in London, Camden UK… I still live in London, but I don’t live in the hospital!

Where would you like to see yourself in five years time?

On a beach, with 10 million in the bank and a big smile on my face.

Six words that best describe you..

Determined, crazy, angry, dorky, clumsy, smiley.

What’s your favourite of all of your songs?

I’m really enjoying Lately at the moment… Again it’s a change for me – and I’m having fun with it!

How long did it take to write and record the 'SXY Ep'?

SXY took 6 weeks – to write, record, produce and distribute – it was a challenge I set myself and I won! My album The Butterfly Observations which is still yet to be released took around 6 months to write and has taken a long time to produce! It’s a case of waiting for the right things to happen. I don’t want to rush that project.

What’s the best Live / recording moment you ever had?

I’m not sure – maybe when some pants got thrown at me at a show in Manchester- that was pretty cool… Or maybe the time I completely started a song wrong – wrong key, wrong verse and I just stopped and held my hands up and said – “sorry I’ve majorly fucked up…” everyone laughed and it was a real ice breaker for the evening…

Recording wise – every time I record it’s the best – because it’s what I love to do! Actually recording “Hey Santa” was very fun, because I love Christmas and it was like an early Christmas present ! I recorded it in November – 6 weeks before Christmas day!

Where was your first public performance?

Oh my, probably in primary school. In the nativity play I guess. I was a wise man. I really wanted to be Joseph or another main part – but I got one line – which I got wrong and looked a complete pratt with a tea towel on my head!

singles

Elusive You - cd1

1 Elusive You - radio edit

2 Elusive You - album version

3 Elusive You - acoustic mix

Elusive You - cd2

1 Elusive You - radio edit

2 Elusive You - album version

3 Elusive You - doubleH remix

Wanna - explicit version

1 Wanna

2 Wanna - wine & roses mix

3 Wanna - doubleH remix

ep's

SXY

1 Intro: Crave

2 Sunsets

3 In Flagrante

4 Satisfied?

5 Wanna

6 Silent Whispers

7 Outro: Purple Sky

Live Sessions

1 Elusive You (Live at the Shed)

2 Fireflies (Live at Manchester Pride)

3 Waterfalls (Live at the Cobden Club)

4 Reform (Live at Bournemouth Pier)

5 Snowglobes (Live at the Shed)

6 Fireflies-bonus (live in my living room)

Smooth

1 Smooth

2 I Can Stand Tall

3 Ain't Gonna

video - Tour 05/06

album

Record on the Blag

 1 On the Line

 2 Not Who You Are

 3 Ain't Gonna

 4 Don't Tell Me

 5 Fade

 6 Smooth

 7 Standing/Seize

 8 Round & Round

 9 From the 7th Floor

10 Creeping Over Me

11 Confidence

12 If Only For Tonight

13 Somedays

14 Don't Cry for Him

15 You Just Walked Away

16 Take It Out

biography

Jake Patrick Robert Hook, a British born singer-song writer and recording artist, raised in Camden, London by an Irish catholic mother and protestant English father. He credits his musical abilities to his childhood theatre company. As a child Jake was no stranger to the stage or the film industry as he starred in 4 London musicals and appeared in the BBC drama "The Biz" - he sang backing for Meatloaf and appeared on the TOP 15 hit "I am in Love with the World," released on Columbia in 1997.

It all started with great grannys old piano. She left it to Jake in her will, not because he showed promise, but because he was the only one in the large Irish family not to thump the hell out of it!

However, Jake didnt learn to play that piano. dyslexia turned grannys sheet music into a sea of meaningless dots, which Jake would join together to make the face of his music teacher, until she washed her hands of him.

But Jake knew he could play, he just had to find a way to learn. Every Saturday morning at kids theatre, nine-year-old Jake would lie under the baby grand, memorising how the chords were formed and how they sounded, until he too could play the tunes in his head.

Out of this came a stripped, raw and sensitive musicality, unconventional in its roots yet fresh in its presence. After his self funded debut album ‘Record on The Blag’ containing 17 original tracks failed to ignite sales Jake left his first label, in 2006 after numerous label changes Jake founded his own label LBM and with financial backing sourced from around the world has written a part autobiographical album explaining a young man’s journey through falling in and out of love, finding yourself and being bullied, this album a young mans rite of passage, paved with heartache, family disputes and finding Jake, concludes in his forthcoming album ‘The Butterfly Observations’, dubbed ‘the torch song’ album of the new age, the debut single from the album ‘Elusive You’ was released and charted in several territories.

Jake's musical influences include Peter Gabriel, Counting Crows and his vocal talent has often been likened to another of his musical influences George Michael. In 2006 CBBC commissioned a song by Jake called 'Seaside Day Out', this outrated both the UK-Germany football game and primetime TV interactive content of "How To Solve A Problem Like Maria", it received an astounding 250,000 downloads in one week on the BBC interactive service, Jake was said to be "stunned" and "dead proud" by the news. The song itself, purely aimed at the very young in its lyrical content and upbeat bouncy music is so very different to his other songs, and shows yet another side to the very multi-talented Jake Hook.

As if writing, singing and playing his own songs wasn't enough, a first at producing the 'DoubleH' remix of 'Baby It's You', for artist Beryl Marsden signed to his record label LoneBoy Records was to be his next undertaking, this single was released worldwide in January 2007. Also in this month Jake teamed up with singer/songwriters David Sneddon and Chris Townsend on a mini tour of five dates, gigging in London, Bristol, Cambridge and Oxford, releasing his 'Live Sessions Ep' to coincide with this. The Ep reached the very respectable position of No.3 in the indiestore chart, and Jake was also featured as artist of the week,"In the final installment from our intrepid singing/songwriting trio (see Sneddon/Townsend in the chart) 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." Live Sessions remained in the chart for a furthur staggering twelve weeks.

In June 2007, Jake took on the challenge of releasing an ep in six weeks. Releasing the very sexy 'Wanna' as a single from the ep, it took the 7 digitial chart by storm giving Jake his first number one. After a massive amount of work SXY was released on 6th August a fantastic seven track Ep and one Jake can be extremely proud of. After been the fastest seller in its first week on download peaking at No.2 in the '7digital' chart SXY finally took the number one postion at the end of week two and remained in the top 5 for a further two weeks.

Growing musically with each track he writes, unafraid to try new and different sounds and unlike a lot of musicians today the ability to sound as good singing live as he does recorded, Jakes’s music makes you feel on so many levels and does in a number of different genres, his upbeat tempos and his beautiful ballads have lyrics with such intensity and passion you simply have to hear them for yourself.

Combine his good looks, his talent and a voice that is so powerful and filled with emotion, Jake Hook is a musician who sheds new light on the concept of the singer-songwriter. As for Grannys old piano, it has been by his side ever since.

Artist

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