From Arias to Arenas
Winnipeg Free Press
August 9, 2007
By Rob Williams
Classical pop singer Josh Groban loves where his booming baritone has taken him
With his looks and talent, Josh Groban could have been a rock star.
The problem is he can't sing like one.
Oh, he can sing all right, but his baritone is too huge and powerful to be reined in by the constraints of something as minuscule as the simple guitar-bass-drums format.
This guy needs a bloody orchestra.
"I love rock music -- it's my voice, it's not suited for that," says the 26-year-old classical pop star. "What I'm doing, I don't even know what the style of music is; it's kind of its own thing. That's kind of frustrating for me, but ultimately it's really rewarding because it allows me to make my own rules."
What was frustrating for the California native was finding a style that fit his voice and getting people to accept it.
He dabbled in musical theatre as a teenager and took vocal lessons on the side. Sensing a greater potential in the teenager with the powerful operatic pipes, his vocal teacher introduced him to Canadian producer David Foster, who signed the budding star to his 143 Records imprint and helped kick-start his career by using the vocalist as a rehearsal partner for artists like Celine Dion.
"It was a slow start and uphill climb, and then you meet someone like David Foster who says, 'OK, your voice is different but we want to give you a chance to say what you have to say,' and it was really exciting," Groban says.
His 2001 Foster-produced self-titled debut was heavily focused on a classical repertoire. He started moving towards a more pop-oriented classical sound on his followup, Closer, which hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts and featured the hit single You Raise Me Up.
In the meantime, he toured with Sarah Brightman, sang The Prayer with British vocalist Charlotte Church during the closing ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics, starred in his own PBS special and appeared as Malcolm Wyatt on the television series Ally McBeal, performing You're Still You in the karaoke bar frequented by the show's characters.
He enjoyed his time on the series and is a fan of acting but doesn't have time to pursue it full time, he says.
"The Broadway community has been open-armed, so one day when I have the time to be as dedicated as much as I need to be I'll look into that," he says. "Every once in a while I look into a movie but then I have to record and go on tour."
His current tour in support of his third album, Awake, brings him to the MTS Centre Sunday for his first ever Winnipeg show (tickets are $49.50 to $125 at Ticketmaster). He will appear with his seven-piece band and be joined during the show by a collection of local orchestra members and a local gospel choir.
"It's thrilling for me," he says. "It adds a fresh energy every night playing with people who have just learned the songs a few hours ago, especially with the choir. When everyone is up there, we can have more than 40 people onstage."
The huge ensemble cast will be on hand to help recreate some of the material on Awake, which includes guest appearances from South African vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo and jazz legend Herbie Hancock. Dave Matthews and Five for Fighting's John Ondrasik are also onboard with some co-writing credits.
"I knew that would be risky, but at the same time it's the most fun I've ever had," says Groban of the album's diversity. "It was cool to do the rock stuff. When I can get into the room with someone who's a total master who's not in my world, you think, 'I'm completely a student,' like with Herbie or Dave Matthews.
"I never feel it's a bad idea for two people who are completely aware and understand their own formulas to go into a room and break that a bit. I think there's something to be said for being kept on your toes, although you don't want to put a square peg in a round hole."
The album might meander stylistically into more obvious pop and rock territory than his first two albums, but Groban didn't break the mould entirely -- he continues his tradition of performing in English, Spanish and Italian. He remains popular around the world, with sales of Awake totalling more than three million in under a year, including 200,000 in Canada.
When he considers the amount of cookie-cutter pop fluff and same-sounding modern rock being sold to consumers via television reality shows and commercial radio, Groban believes his music, and music by similar artists like Il Divo and Brightman, has won a place in the musical landscape because it gives people the chance to diverge from what they normally hear.
"I think there's room for everything. There's so much of what you see on shows like (American/Canadian Idol) that's it's crammed down your throat, and as people see there's more and more out there, they'll give it a chance," he says.
"The crazy thing is there's a lot of rock music influenced by a more classical style. Look at Queen and some of the stuff Guns N' Roses did: you can't go up and scream those high rock Cs without some kind of classical voice training."
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