Josh Groban Pure Talent
Winter 2007
By Fran Laniado
(Thanks to Jeanene for transcribing this article)
The concert hall of the landmark Sydney Opera House in Australia is completely packed. the crowd isn't there for an established prima donna, but rather a kid from the other side of the planet. It's amazing to consider that five years ago no one knew who Josh Groban was considering that today the young tenor is a household name worldwide. Even more impressive is that at just twenty six years old, Josh Groban has successfully crossed the boundaries of genre and has fans of all ages.
No single event catapulted Josh Groban to fame, but his meteoric rise was so swift that one looks for a catalyst. Josh loved music as a child. As a teenager he began to take singing lessons and he learned to play the drums. When he began high school at The Los Angeles County High Schoolfor the Arts, he began to carve a place for himself on stage, performing in school musicals. When his singing teacher sent a tape of Josh singing "All I Ask Of You" from "The Phantom of the Opera" to music producer David Foster he started to get some serious attention.
Josh was invited to sing at public events such as the inauguration of California governor Gray Davis. Later, David Foster called on josh to fill in for an absent Andrea Bocelli at the Grammy Award rehearsal, when Celine Dion needed a duet partner. Rosie O'Donnell, who hosted the show that year was impressed enough to invite Josh to perform at the actual show - an offer he had to turn down because he was working the curtain at his high school theater production that evening.
After high school Josh enrolled in Carnagie Mellon University and completed his Freshman year, but left when he was offered a record deal. He followed this decision by performing at several other prestigious events, and television shows.
If Josh Groban ever had a "big break" it was his role as Malcolm Wyatt on "Ally McBeal". The role allowed him to perform a song, and he later reprised the role in another episode. However the single appearance was enough to gain attention and Josh recorded his first song, a duet with singer Lara Fabian called "For Always" that was used on the soundtrack for the film "AI: Artificial Intelligence".
As word about Josh began to spread he recorded his debut album which was released in December 2001. To date, Josh Groban's self-titled debut album has sold over five million copies.
With success like that a second album ws inevitable and "Closer" was released in November 2003. Josh took a more active role in the production of this second album, cowriting three songs ("Remember When It Rained", "Never Let Go" and "Per Te") and playing piano on the "Remember When It Rained". As an album "Closer" hit number one on the Billboard pop charts in January 2004. Two months later, in March, "You Raise Me Up" was a number one single.
Early in 2004 Josh began a sold out world concert tour. Awards and nominations began to flood in. When "Closer" went six times platinum in South Africa, Josh met Nelson Mandela and volunteered as an ambassador for the Global 46664 project in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The visit to South Africa, and Mandela himself, made a profound impact on Josh, who established the Josh Groban Foundation in response to the problems that he saw. The foundation aims to help children in need through education, healthcare and the arts.
The following year was particularly notable for allowing Josh to achieve another dream: his want to be a Broadway leading man when he starred in the one night only performance of the musical "Chess" in order to benefit the Actor's Fund.
Despite performing at several prestigious events, including tributes to Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber, composers whom Josh greatly admires, it was two years before his next major album release. In November 2006 Josh released "Awake" his long awaited third album and his most daring yet. While "Closer" allowed him some creative input, "Awake" allowed him to come into his own as an artist and collaborate with artists as diverse as Imogean Heap, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and Dave Matthews.
"I needed to stretch my creative boundaries" he says. "You can always remain where it's comfortable, but it's exhilarating to challenge yourself creatively".
Josh describes the experience of writing "February Song" on a night when he was unable to sleep. "I wanted to write a song that melodically and lyrically represented the craziness I felt in that moment in the dark, dark, space.
I walked over to the piano and it just came to me in a half hour in the most magical way." The collaboration with Ladysmith Black Mambazo was especially important to Josh following his trip to South Africa in 2005.
"The musical tapestry of the country and their heated history, the honor of meeting Nelson Mandela and visiting schools in Soweto was totally inspiring. And, it was a dream of a lifetime to sing with Ladysmith in the studio. I've loved them from the moment I heard Paul Simon's 'Graceland'." The first song, "Lullaby" was one that Josh cowrote with Dave Matthews and is sung a cappella. The other song, "Weeping", is a South African song which Josh first heard on his trip to the country.
While "Awake" was undoubtedly the most personal and creatively daring for Groban, it was also the most risky. Though it featured vocals in English, Italian, and Spanish, just as Josh's other albums, "Awake" had a distinctly more modern feeling than his previous work, using more mentals, than the classic piano accompaniments featured on his debut and "Closer".
It was touring that allowed Josh to see that perhaps his fans were ready for something different from him: "I learned from touring that my fans are really open-minded, musical, intelligent people and I feel like they want to come on this new journey with me. The music still sounds like it's coming from my heart and my soul and my voice. That is always the most important thing to me". As for experimenting with genre boundaries, he simply says: "I don't invest a lot of emotional energy trying to catagorize what I do. The voice I have is the voice I have. It's how I express myself and it's not something I ever want to lose. I always choose songs and styles that are personal to me. At the same time, my musical tastes are broad...and that translates into songs that cross musical genres."
Josh's gamble paid off and "Awake" went platinum, allowing Josh to go on his second worldwide concert tour in 2007.
Fans didn't have to wait another two years for Josh's next release. In October of 2007 Josh released "Noel", a Christmas album recorded with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the African Children's Choir. It featured duets with Brian McKnight ("Angels We Have Heard On High") and Faith Hill ("The First Noel") along with a performance of "Oh Come All Ye Faithful" with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Guitarist Andy McKee made a featured appearance on "The Little Drummer Boy". It was selected as one of Oprah's Favorite Things for Christmas. The endorsement didn't hurt sales. Once again Josh experienced tremendous success, when "Noel" went two times platinum in only eight weeks, holding onto the number one spot on the Billboard charts for three weeks straight.
It's impossible to catagorize Josh Groban as an artist. He's been called a classical crossover artist, a pop singer, even "Opera Boy" by Rosie O'Donnell! But he doesn't fit neatly into any category. Using his love of a various musical genres Josh has released pop influenced by classical singing, world music and more. He's just added a traditional Christmas album to his already long list of accomplishments, and he shows no sign of stopping anytime soon. One thing that Josh has expressed interest in is musical theater (which is where his early training lies) so perhaps we'll see him on Broadway someday. But if nothing else, Josh Groban remains an open minded, unpredictable artist.
