Jools Holland to put on a star-studded event for prostate cancer charity

Virgin Radio

4 Mar 2022, 16:36

“If Raise the Roof was able to achieve this and save one man’s life, it would be the best thing ever that would come out of this.”

The musician revealed for the first time that he received a diagnosis for prostate cancer following a routine blood test in 2014.

Thankfully, he was successfully treated for the disease, and now he wants to make sure others understand the symptoms. He stated it was “really important for men to be aware of the facts of prostate cancer and understand their risk.”

Now, Jools has joined forces with Prostate Cancer UK to put on a star-studded musical event titled Raise the Roof.

Of course, Jools has many friends in the music industry, and we can expect to see performances from the likes of Paul Weller, Spice Girl Melanie C, Celeste and Paloma Faith. There will also be some stand-up comedy from Shaparak Khorsandi, Gina Yashere and Stephen K Amos- with more names to be announced.

The event will take place at the Royal Albert Hall on June 22 and will be hosted by former Strictly Come Dancing star AJ Odudu along with comedian Jim Moir.

This is the first time Jools has spoken about his own diagnosis of the disease, which he hopes will bring awareness to it.

He said: “If I can bring people’s awareness to the facts of prostate cancer, then I would certainly stand on top of my piano and shout about it because I think it’s really important.

“I had no awareness of prostate cancer, no symptoms that I noticed whatsoever, until I was diagnosed following a routine blood test in 2014. Thankfully I was successfully treated, but if more people were aware of their risk and caught the disease early, then more lives would be saved.

“If Raise the Roof was able to achieve this and save one man’s life, it would be the best thing ever that would come out of this.”

Holland came up with the idea for the event with friend and founder of Prostate Cancer UK, Professor Jonathan Waxman, and all proceeds will go towards the charity and research into the disease.

Jools added: “People often think ‘this is something that happens to other people’. It’s not like I felt any different.

“It’s not like I suddenly felt ill, except you suddenly have this thing hanging over your head and you think ‘hang on, don’t people die from all this?’ Once I started talking to Professor Waxman I realised there are all sorts of ways of dealing with it if caught early.”

“Had I not had that routine test, where something had shown up, then I would have just gone on and on until it was perhaps too late to have done anything about it.

“It’s really important for men to be aware of the facts of prostate cancer and understand their risk.

“One thing I would suggest is going on the Prostate Cancer UK website and to their risk checker page where you will quite quickly work out what your risk of having this disease is. And at least that is a starting point.”

For more information on tickets for Raise The Roof, visit prostatecanceruk.org/get-involved/raise-the-roof