Josh Groban

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Josh Groban

Background information
Birth name Joshua Winslow Groban
Born February 27, 1981 (age 26)
Los Angeles, California Flag of United States United States
Genre(s) Classical
Easy listening
Pop
Vocal and Opera
Occupation(s) Singer
Instrument(s) Singing, piano, drums
Years active 1997-present
Label(s) 143/Reprise
Website http://www.joshgroban.com

Joshua Winslow Groban (born February 27, 1981) is a Grammy-nominated American singer/songwriter known for his mature and lyrical baritone voice. He has concentrated his career so far mostly in concert singing and recordings.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Josh Groban was born in Los Angeles, California, to a Jewish American father (a descendant of Polish and Russian immigrants) and a Norwegian American mother. His father converted to Christianity upon marriage, and Groban was raised an Anglican-Episcopalian. His younger brother Christopher shares a birthday with him four years later.[1]

Groban debuted as a singer in seventh grade, but soon put it on hold for a few years. "I enjoyed the arts aspects, but my grades were slipping. I didn't feel that I was getting enough creative input. So I went to Bridges Academy to get my grades up to straight A's." While at Bridges Academy, Groban took normal classes from 9:00 AM until 1:00 PM, and then afterwards attended theatre classes.[2] He also played the penny whistle in grade school.[citation needed]

In 1997 and 1998, Groban attended the Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan, majoring in musical theater, which is also when he began taking voice lessons outside of school. "I started taking music lessons on the side. I was very much into musical theater. I had a pretty good baritone voice, so I began acting and singing in school productions".[3]

In late 1998, the 17-year-old Groban was introduced by his vocal coach to Grammy-winning producer/arranger David Foster. Groban worked for Foster as a rehearsal singer on a series of high-profile events, including the 1999 Grammy Awards -- where, as a stand-in for Andrea Bocelli, he rehearsed Foster's "The Prayer" with Céline Dion -- and the January 1999 inauguration of Gray Davis as governor of California.

Groban attended the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts as a theater major and graduated in 1999 and then attended Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA, studying drama.

[edit] Early career

Groban left Carnegie Mellon after only one year when he was offered a recording contract at Warner Bros. Records through Foster's 143 Records imprint. With regard to signing Groban, Foster said: "I love his natural ability in the pop and rock arena, but I love his sense of classics even more. He's a true musical force to be reckoned with."[4] Therefore, under Foster's influence, Groban's first album focused more on the classics with songs such as "Gira Con Me" and "Alle Luce Del Sole," the first ones decided on by Foster and Groban.

Soon after being picked up by Foster, Groban went on to perform "There For Me" with Sarah Brightman on her 2000-2001 La Luna Tour, featured on her "La Luna" Concert DVD, and made his recording debut by singing "For Always" with Lara Fabian on the movie soundtrack to A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001). He also became involved in many benefit shows, including the following: "The Andre Agassi Grand Slam Event For Children", singing alongside Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Don Henley and Robin Williams; "Muhammad Ali's Fight Night Foundation" which honored Michael J. Fox and others; "The Family Celebration" (2001) which was co-hosted by President Clinton and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and David E. Kelley and his wife, Michelle Pfeiffer; and Michael Milken's CapCure event, which raises funds for cancer research.

Groban played the role of Malcolm Wyatt in the May 2001 season finale of the television series Ally McBeal, performing "You're Still You." The series creator, David E. Kelley, was impressed at Groban's performance at The Family Celebration event, and, based on the audience reaction to Groban's singing, Kelley created a character for Groban in this finale. The character of Malcolm Wyatt was so popular, with 8,000 emails from fans,[4] that Groban was asked to return the next season to reprise his role and perform "To Where You Are."

The singer's eponymous debut album Josh Groban was released on November 20, 2001. Over the next year, it went from gold to double-platinum.[5]

On February 24, 2002, Groban performed "The Prayer" with Charlotte Church at the closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics, and by November, he had his own PBS special, Josh Groban In Concert (2002). In December he performed "To Where You Are" and then sang "The Prayer" in a duet with Sissel Kyrkjebø at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway. He then joined The Corrs, Ronan Keating, Sting, Lionel Richie and others for a Christmas performance at the Vatican in Rome, Italy. In 2003, Groban performed at the David Foster created concert for World Children's Day. He performed "The Prayer" with Celine Dion and the finale song, "Aren't They All Our Children" with artists like Yolanda Adams, Nick Carter, Enrique Iglesias and Celine Dion.

[edit] Recent years

Groban's second album Closer, also produced by Foster, was released on November 11, 2003. Groban said that he believed that this second album was a better reflection of him and that his audience would be able to get a better idea of him personally from listening to it. "What most people know about me, they know through my music. This time, I've tried to open that door as wide as possible. These songs are a giant step closer to who I really am and what my music is all about. Hence the title."[4]

Two months after Closer was released, it rose on the Billboard charts from number 11 to number one.[6] His cover of Brian Kennedy's "You Raise Me Up" became very popular on the adult contemporary charts. Groban also performed the song "Remember" (with Tanja Tzarovska) on the Troy soundtrack. He also performed on the soundtrack to the 2004 animated film The Polar Express, featured in the song "Believe."

During the summer of 2004, Groban returned to Interlochen, where he gave a performance to local residents and campers, also speaking about his experiences as a young performer. On November 30, 2004, his second live DVD, Live At The Greek, was released. It also ran as a Great Performances special on PBS. Also in 2004, Groban performed "Remember When It Rained," backed by a full orchestra, at the American Music Awards where he was nominated for Favorite Male Artist in the pop category. Groban and his recordings were nominated for more than a dozen awards in 2004, including the American Music Award, World Music Award, Academy Award, and a Grammy.

Other appearances have included The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Ellen Degeneres Show, Jay Leno, Larry King Live, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, 20/20, The Today Show, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Super Bowl XXXVIII, and the Rockefeller Tree Lighting.[7]

During the first week of September 2006, Groban's latest single entitled "You Are Loved (Don't Give Up)", was exclusively released to AOL's First Listen. It was taken from his third studio album Awake, which was officially released on November 7, 2006.[8] His "Awake" world tour visits 71 cities between February and August 2007. He did a duet with Barbra Streisand ("All I Know of Love") and also in 2007 a duet with Mireille Mathieu ("Over the Rainbow"). Groban has expressed an interest in performing on Broadway one day.

Groban plays the piano and drums, and has expressed an interest in learning to play uilleann pipes (an Irish instrument similar to bagpipes).

[edit] Charity

Under the guidance of his mentor David Foster, Groban performed for many charity events that included VH1 Save the Music (2005), Tsunami Aid: A Concert of Hope (2005), Fifth Adopt-A-Annual Minefield concert (2005), 2nd Annual Grammy Jam (2005), Live 8 (2005), The Heart Foundation Gala (2005), and David Foster and Friends Charity Gala (2006). Inspired by a visit with Nelson Mandela during a 2004 trip to South Africa, he established the Josh Groban Foundation to help children in need through education, healthcare and the arts.[9] Mandela appointed Groban as an Official Ambassador for Mandela's Project 46664, a campaign to help raise Global awareness of HIV/AIDS in Africa.

[edit] Influences and personal details

Some of Groban's musical influences have been Radiohead, Paul Simon, Sting, Peter Gabriel, and Björk.[7] He says he is able to look up to anyone, musically, who has pushed the boundaries and stepped outside of the box. As for vocal influences, "anyone who told a story with their songs," including: Mandy Patinkin, Klaus Nomi, George Hearn, and Luciano Pavarotti.[10]

Groban has never been married and does not have any children. As of March 2007 he is not dating, despite a British tabloid's claim to the contrary. This claim has never been verified nor has it been picked up by other tabloids or any credible US publications. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California.

[edit] Controversies

Groban has not been the subject of much tabloid fodder per se but an image of a perfect classical artist painted by a sect of fans known as Grobanites recently took a hit when Groban was interviewed and photographed by edgy publication Blender Magazine. In the article, Groban admitted to experimenting once with pot, picking his nose, using the F word, a fondness for swearing, and a taste for casual sex. [11]

In a recent interview with the Los Angeles Daily News, Groban made no apologies for the shocked reactions from fans: "My press has not emphasized a lot of personality stuff," he says. "It's been a lot more about the seriousness of the music, or whether or not people like the music." He also makes no apologies for trying new music: "From the very beginning, I've never tried to make people believe that this was classical music; it's pop music," Groban says. "I have a huge respect for opera, which is why I've never done opera. There will be a specific time and place if and when I decide to tackle something from that genre. But in the meantime, I've just been experimenting and trying things that work for my voice." [12]

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

  • Josh Groban - 2001
  • Josh Groban In Concert - 2002
  • Closer - 2003
  • Live at the Greek - 2004
  • Awake - 2006
  • With You (Hallmark promotional disk) - 2007

[edit] Concerts


[edit] Acting

  • Ally McBeal Season 4 Box Set 2 (DVD) - 2002 - In episode "The Wedding" Josh plays Malcolm Wyatt and performs "You're Still You"
  • Ally McBeal Season 5 Box Set 1 (DVD) - 2003 - In episode "Nine One One" Josh plays Malcolm Wyatt and performs "To Where You Are"

[edit] References

  1. ^ Groban Archives: Dave 'Til Dawn interview transcript
  2. ^ Josh Groban in The Simpsons!
  3. ^ Evening at Pops 2004: Biographies: Josh Groban
  4. ^ a b c Official Josh Groban site
  5. ^ New Sets By Industry Vets Post Strong Sales RIAA newsletter December 4, 2002
  6. ^ VH1 Josh Groban biography
  7. ^ a b Josh Groban biography
  8. ^ Josh Groban New CD "Awake" in Stores on November 7th
  9. ^ Josh Groban Message Forum
  10. ^ On the Brink of Stardom: Josh Groban live Internet chat on ABCNEWS.com
  11. ^ Who Does Josh Groban Think He Is. Blender Magazine (2007-02-02). Retrieved on April 7, 2007.
  12. ^ The lighter side of Josh Groban. The Los Angeles Daily News (2007-03-29). Retrieved on April 7, 2007.

[edit] External links

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