It's Not Just Classical That Raises Him Up
Daily Oakland Press
August 6, 2004
By Gary Graff
Though his repertoire is classical and romantic, Josh Groban is as interested in what's playing on pop radio as any other 22-year-old. Look in his CD stack and you'll find the OutKast, Coldplay, Alicia Keys, Maroon5 and Norah Jones, among others.
But that doesn't mean he feels a pull to perform in their musical milieus.
"We all have our musical backgrounds and taste," says Groban, who's doing just fine, thank you, with his third album, "Closer," which spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard charts earlier this year. "When it comes right down to it, we all wake up in the morning and have the voice that we have. And this is the kind of singing that my voice does, the kind of thing that came out when I opened my mouth and started to sing and realized that I wanted to sing.
"It's great. This is the voice that I was given, and so there's certain music that fits this kind of singing best, which I love to do."
Of course, taking care of that voice is paramount for Groban - perhaps even more so than his pop peers because his music requires a greater degree of precision. So how does he keep it in shape?
"I've experimented with lots of things," he says. "The one thing I've found that works consistently is just sleep, sleep, sleep. ... I can recharge and rejuvenate even if I've had a really late night or even if I'm just shot from a show. If I get a good eight, nine, 10 hours of sleep. I'm good as new."
Josh Groban and Mindi Abair perform at 8 p.m. Saturday at DTE Energy Music Theatre, Sashabaw Road north of I-75, Independence Township. Tickets are $68 pavilion, $30.50 lawn.
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