Draft:Jool (musician)

• Comment: YouTube and IMDb are not reliable sources. Theroadislong (talk) 09:01, 5 November 2024 (UTC)

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Jewel Timo Schamborsky (born 1972 in Rendsburg), known by his stage name Jool is a German guitarist, singer-songwriter and multiple award-winning composer and music producer.

Early life

Born to an entrepreneur, musician father and racing driver mother, Jool grew up with music and a nomadic life. He often spent long weekends with his family at motorsport events in Germany and Europe, where his father enjoyed success with racing his own Austin Mini Cooper. Jool spent his childhood close to nature in a commune with many animals such as dogs, cats and birds. His parents also ran a bird care centre. The family property, which was surrounded by wild fruit trees, offered the animals a natural environment and was a real adventure playground.

Musical career

Jool, who had already come into contact with music through his parents (his father performed as a bassist in Hamburg's Starclub), had the desire to become a musician himself at an early age. At the age of 5, Jool discovered singing, followed by his passion for playing the guitar. He was inspired by the music that played every day at home from an old tape recorder - usually British and American blues and soul music. His father often played the guitar while watching TV. One day he played House of the Rising Sun, which immediately captivated Jools interest. He made it his goal to be able to play that too.

During his high school years, Jool's musical career began after he joined a school band at the age of 13. In addition to the tips from his father and the musical exchange in the school band, he listened to the records of his favorite artists and guitarists by trying to play their songs and guitar solos by ear. In this way he expanded his solo guitar playing autodidactically. At the age of 16 Jool formed a band together with his father: Daddy and the Bluesmakers. The name was inspired by John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers. Their program also included some of Mayalls songs with Eric Clapton on guitar, as well as many Rock 'n' Roll classics and songs by Stevie Ray Vaughan and the band Cream.

Jool began to take an interest in recording technology and composition, which he also taught himself. When he moved out of his parents' house, he had a mini home studio consisting of a Yamaha MT 120 - 4-track tape recorder and a Boss DR-550 drum machine. He borrowed a bass from a friend to sketch out his first self-made song productions. It took him a couple of years until, after countless ideas, he finally managed to produce the first full song. That was the time in the 90s when Atari computers were replaced by the first hard disk recording computers from Apple Macintosh. This advancement represented a small revolution for Jool. Recording studios became more affordable and so Jool bought a Macintosh G3 desktop computer, which became the heart of his first professional home studio.

The first demos of his debut album finally aroused the interest of the Oasis label Big Brother Recordings. Jool followed an invitation to London in 2000 to the newly founded Gallagher brothers' label. The label management was surprised that Jool had performed and produced his music completely on his own and expressed: Lots of potential. They offered him a collaboration, which subsequently did not happen, because Jool already had signed an artist contract with EMI Publishing Germany, which in turn clouded the interest of the London label. They had assumed that Jool was free of contract and independent.

With the advance from the German publisher, Jool bought his first hard disk recording system and was able to expand his home studio. The titles such as Piggy, Feelings, The Sky is Crying were created which later released on Jool' s solo album productions. Jool has always felt a special affinity for film music according to his own statement. In 1999 he finally came into contact with the managing director of the archive music label Selected Sound (now KPM Music) who offered him a collaboration which led to various album releases under the leadership of Hans Müller (CEO and previously discoverer, patron of Dire Straits).

Jool gained greater fame through the use of his songs in commercials, movies and TV series like Alive in the US TV series The Vampire Diaries. His song Alive went viral on the Internet after Vampire Diaries fans heard the title in a TV commercial and on YouTube. This kind of dynamic independent enthusiasm was still relatively unknown, because social media platforms were still unpopular. The production company of the US series promptly deleted the popular videos with Jool's song from the internet, which basically undermined the hype surrounding Alive. At the same time, it fueled Jool’s popularity in his live performances and his image as an underground star. Feuilleton called Jool one of the underground stars par excellence, describing him with the words: Cool, cooler, Jool!

Jool developed a new show concept in the early 2000s, in which he improvised with guitar and vocals to house and electro DJ sets and created new songs live in front of an audience. He spontaneously composed remixes of well-known classics at events around the world, inspiring new styles. He also toured as MTV and Red Bull resident artist and performed with multiple prominent DJs such as Howard Donald, Alle Farben, Spencer Parker, Purple Disco Machine, Syke and Sugarstarr, Disco Boys and Plastic Funk. Jool contributed guitar riffs to several remixes which entered the charts and contributed compositionally with his typical guitar chord progressions, which have a lasting influence on the international electronic music production scene.

Many of Jool's titles deal with sociopolitical issues in a humorous and sometimes satirical way. He slips into a variety of singing voices, like a voice imitator. He also works as a mix and mastering engineer. Often he plays all instruments on his own songs, but always cooperates with other artists and engineers. Since 1999, numerous songs and albums have been released on various production music labels such as Selected Sound, EMI Production Music GmbH (now KPM Music), Extreme Music[4], Sony ATV, Uppm, Universal Music, APM Music, Black Is Blonde and Intervox. His solo debut - Jool's Diary - was released on two CDs, as an archive music album including instrumental versions in 2005 and as an official sales CD on September 22, 2006. It reached the French and Australian Apple Music charts.

The song American Toy from Jool' s Diary was used in the Canadian series Lost Girl, as well as in Anthony Bourdain's documentary Parts Unknown in its episode Libya. The title Straight House from his first instrumental album Spicy Guitar Roots, a four-track tape recorder recording, was broadcast on the Oprah Winfrey Show in the USA, La Vida, a title from his debut solo album Jool's Diary, was featured in a Mercedes commercial. Scottish Leader Whiskey used Jool's song Together in their Taiwanese commercial, which was broadcast on Taiwanese national television for 1 year. DHL, Lidl, McDonald's and Just Fab also used titles in their commercials.

In 2010 Jool worked with historic Motown musicians in Los Angeles and produced some live recordings together with Don Peake, in which James Gadson on drums, Freddy Washington on bass, Paulie Cerra on piano, Harlan Spector on Hammond organ and Jack Cook on drums can be heard. In 2012 Jool contributed songs to the soundtrack of the US film The Ghostmaker.

As a touring guitarist he also played on radio and television tours alongside artists such as Marlon Knauer, Kim Sanders and Michael Sembello. In 2016 Jool took part in reworking the soundtrack of the German ZDF production Familie Braun. Jool is responsible for the composition and production of some of the tracks. The project won the International Emmy Award in 2017 and German Comedy Award, among others. In 2020 during the Corona pandemic, Jool worked with Udo Lindenberg on a new edition of a Lindenberg classic. The lockdown interrupted the work and no music was released.

In 2023, Jool switched to the electric bass to accompany Helge Schneider on his German tour The Last Torero.

His musical diary concept, which began with Jool's Diary, was taken up again in 2023 with Anti War Diaries and continued in 2024 with The Ambient Diaries.

Musical style and influences

Jool's music can generally be described as rock. However, Jool mixes a wide variety of different styles in his albums. These include blues, psychedelia, dance, house & electro, soul, funk, dubstep, classical, alternative garage rock, world music, jazz and soundtrack. His style can also be characterized as retro science-fiction, as it is reminiscent of music from the 1960s and 1970s at the same time futuristic. His music synthesized a bright variety of influences and was inspired by wide range of musicians, including Eric Clapton, J.J.Cale, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimmy Reed, Robert Johnson, Ry Cooder, B.B.King,Albert Collins, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Otis Redding, David Byrne, Dulce Pontes, Murray Head, Tears for Fears, Depeche Mode, Talk Talk, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, David Bowie, Prince, Ray Charles and Sigur Rós.

To reinforce his diverse styles, Jool uses vintage analog instruments, equipment such as a '62 Fender Deluxe guitar amp, a '63 Vibroverb and various vintage string instruments as well as rare synthesizers and old Ludwig drum sets as well as samples and modern music software.

Sexual orientation

With his eccentricity and androgynous appearance, he is sometimes associated with the LGBTQ community and perceived as a protagonist, since he has appeared flamboyant and androgynous since the 1990s. Skin-tight golden leggings, high heels, nail polish and extravagant beard creations are among his trademarks, reminiscent of the glam rock era of the 70s. It was not so much the influence of pioneers such as Prince and David Bowie, T Rex that played a major role, but rather the fact that as a child Jool was for a long time mistaken for a girl because of his appearance of long blonde hair and red round glasses. He is open to all sexual orientations, but does not consider himself reduced to a definition like diverse or non-binary. According to his own statement, genderfluid might best describes him. He himself understands his actions and artistic creation more simply as free activism for peace and freedom.  

Discography (Selection)

• Movie Road (2004 Selected Sound , KPM Music)
• Jool´s Diary (2005 Selected Sound, KPM Music)
• Jool´s Diary (2006 EMI Production Music, Extreme Music)
• Syke 'n' Sugarstarr & Alexandra Prince Are You (Watching Me Watching You) (2006)
• Joolesque (2009)
• Jool´s Diary remastered extended version (2010)
• American Toy (2011 as heard in Lost Girl)
• Alive ( 2011 as heard in The Vampire Diaries) APM Music
• Positivity (2011 Universal/Berlin Records)
• Get Sugarfunky (2013 Universal/Berlin Records)
• The Drive (2013 Intervox)
• Black Van-Damn Blind Lies (2013)
• Jool´s Journey (2015 Universal)[11]
• The Mystery Of The Golden Road ( 2016 Warner/Chappell)
• Summer Cheers (2018 Black is Blonde)
• Natia Todua EP Miss You ( 2019 Co-Producer)
• Natia Todua Love Letter (2019)
• The A&O ( 2020 Warner Chappell, Perfect Pitch)[12]
• Starlights ( 2020 feat Marta)
• Back Forward (2021 Intervox/Kontor)
• VFX Rock (2021 Music Sculptor)
• Anti War Diaries (2023)
• The Ambient Diaries (2024 Black is Blonde)

Soundtrack contributions and advertising

• Together from the album Jool' s Diary is used by Scottish Leader Whiskey in a Taiwanese commercial.
• American Toy is played in the Canadian TV series Lost Girl while the lead actress of the series dances to the theme song. American Toy is also used in the Anthony Bourdain documentary Parts Unknown in the episode Libya.
• Alive is used in a commercial for the US series The Vampire Diaries.
• Lara and the Bridge Song are part of the sound score of the ZDF series Familie Braun.
• Shine, Dream on, Birthday Song and Death is a beautiful thing are included in the soundtrack to the film The Ghostmaker.
• Get Sugarfunky is played in the children's series Hey Duggee.
• United Braggarts was used for an Audio Now advertising campaign.
• La Vida was part of a Mercedes commercial spot.

External links

• Official website
• Jool at Discogs
• Jool at IMDb

Category:1972 births Category:German musician Category:People from Rendsburg