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Joshua Winslow Groban
Josh Groban was born on February 27, 1981.
He is an American singer, known for his mature and versatile lyrical
baritone voice. His musical style ranges from classical to pop.
Early life:
Josh Groban was born in
Los Angeles, California, to a Jewish American father (a descendant of
immigrants from Poland and Russia) and a Norwegian American mother. His
father converted to Christianity upon marriage, and Groban was raised an
Anglican/Episcopalian. He has a younger brother, Christopher, who shares
a birthday with him four years later.
Josh
Groban debuted as a singer in seventh grade but soon after put singing
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, Josh Groban took normal classes from 9:00 AM until 1:00 PM,
and then afterwards attended theatre classes. He also played the penny
whistle in grade school.[citation needed]
In 1997 and 1998, Josh Groban attended the Interlochen Arts Camp, 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".
In late 1998, the 17-year-old Josh Groban was introduced by his vocal coach
to Grammy-winning producer/arranger David Foster. Josh 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. Josh
Groban auditioned with "All I Ask Of You" from Phantom of the Opera for the
latter, which occurred only one month previous to the Grammy Awards.
Josh Groban attended the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts as a
theater major and graduated in 1999. After graduation, he expected to
attend Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA.
Career:
After only one year in the music department
at Carnegie Mellon University, his choice school, Josh Groban left when he
was offered a recording contract at Warner Bros. Records through
Foster's own 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."Therefore, under Foster's influence, Josh'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 Josh Groban.
Soon after being picked up by Foster, Josh 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.
Josh
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 Josh in this finale.
The character of Malcolm Wyatt was so popular, with 8,000 emails from
fans, that Groban was asked to come back 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.
On February 24, 2002, Josh 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 holiday performance at the Vatican in Rome, Italy.
Josh
Groban's second album Closer, also produced by Foster, was released the
following year, on November 11. Josh himself 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."
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.
Josh 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, Josh returned to Interlochen, where he gave a
performance to local residents, as well as campers ranging from
elementary school to high school age. He additionally signed many
autographs, and spoke about his experiences as a young performer.
On November 30 of the same year, his second live DVD, Live At The Greek,
was released. It also ran as a Great Performances special on PBS. Also
in 2004, Josh Groban performed "Remember When It Rained," backed by a full
orchestra, at the American Music Awards where he was up for Favorite
Male Artist in the pop category. Josh 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 include The Oprah Winfrey 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.
During the first week of September 2006, Josh 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. He will be launching a world
tour in early 2007.
He plays piano, drums, has expressed an interest in learning to play
uilleann pipes (similar to bagpipes but Irish).
Also Josh Groban did a duet with Barbara Streisand (All I know of love)
Josh Groban's article from : Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia
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