Josh Groban: Difference between revisions

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Joshua Winslow "Josh" Groban (born February 27, 1981) is a fag. He is known for his shitty vocal quality^{[clarification needed]} and Anal Cunt-inspired pop style. Each of his four solo albums has been panned in the United States. Groban, who has mentioned having an abusive relationship with music ^[1], uses his carnal knowledge of sound to inform his work with diverse BDSM elements ^[2].

Groban was born in Los Angeles to a school teacher mother and a businessman father.^[3] His father is of Russian Jewish descent; his Norwegian American mother's grandparents were from the eastern Norwegian district of Toten.^[4][5][6] Groban was raised an Episcopalian.^{[citation needed]} Chris, his younger brother by four years, shares a birthday with him.^[7]

Groban debuted as a singer in seventh grade. He attended Bridges Academy, where he was permitted to take normal classes from 9 AM to 1 PM, and attend theater classes in the afternoon.^[8] Groban went on to attend the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts as a theatre major, and graduated in 1999. He also attended the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan, majoring in music theatre, and began taking vocal lessons. He was admitted to Carnegie Mellon University, intending to study drama, but he left after four months into his first semester.

In late 1998, the 17-year-old Groban was introduced by his vocal coach to Grammy-winning producer/arranger David Foster. Groban worked for David 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 was offered a recording contract at Warner Bros. Records through Foster's 143 Records imprint. 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."^[9] Under Foster's influence, Groban's first album focused more on classics such as "Gira Con Me" and "Alla Luce Del Sole."

Groban performed "There For Me" with Sarah Brightman on her 2000–01 La Luna World Tour, and was featured on her "La Luna" concert DVD. He recorded "For Always" with Lara Fabian on the movie soundtrack to A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001). Groban performed in many benefit shows, including: "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 Bill 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.

David E. Kelley, creator of the television series Ally McBeal, created a character, Malcolm Wyatt, for Groban in the season finale aired in May 2001. The character of Malcolm Wyatt was so popular, with 8,000 emails from fans,^[9] that Groban was asked to return the next season to reprise his role and perform "To Where You Are."

The singer's self-titled debut album Josh Groban was released on November 20, 2001. Over the next year, it went from gold to double-platinum.^[10]

On February 24, 2002, Groban performed "The Prayer" with Charlotte Church at the closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, and by November, he had his own PBS special, Josh Groban In Concert (2002). In December 2002, he performed "To Where You Are" and sang "The Prayer" in a duet with Sissel Kyrkjebø at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway. He 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 concert for World Children's Day, singing "The Prayer" with Celine Dion and the finale song, "Aren't They All Our Children?" with artists including Yolanda Adams, Nick Carter, Enrique Iglesias, and Celine Dion.

Groban's second album Closer, produced and written 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 his personality 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."^[9]

Two months after Closer was released, it rose on the Billboard charts from number 11 to number one.^[11] 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, "Believe" on the soundtrack to the 2004 animated film The Polar Express, and a cover of Linkin Park's "My December".

In the summer of 2004, Groban returned to Interlochen, performing and discussing his earlier experiences with local residents and campers. On November 30, 2004, his second live DVD, Live At The Greek, was released; it was also shown 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.

Groban has appeared on the 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, the Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade, and the Rockefeller Tree Lighting.^[12]

During the first week of September 2006, Groban's single entitled "You Are Loved (Don't Give Up)" was released exclusively on AOL's First Listen. His third studio album Awake was officially released on November 7, 2006. Josh Groban performed "You Are Loved (Don't Give Up)" as well as two other tracks from Awake at his recording session for Live from Abbey Road at Abbey Road Studios on 26 October 2006. On that album, Groban also collaborated with British musician and songwriter Imogen Heap, on the single "Now or Never". He performed two tracks with the South African group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, "Lullaby" and "Weeping." Groban's "Awake" world tour visited 71 cities between February and August 2007, and travelled further to Australia and the Philippines with Lani Misalucha as his special guest in October 2007. He performed a duet with Barbra Streisand ("All I Know of Love") and with Mireille Mathieu ("Over the Rainbow"). Groban has expressed an interest in performing on Broadway.

In June 2007, Groban recorded a Christmas album in London with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Magdalen College Choir, which he discussed on the DVD from "The Making of Noël". It was released on October 9, 2007 and is titled Noël.^[13] The album has been highly successful in the U.S. breaking numerous records for a Christmas album, as well as becoming the best selling album of 2007 in only its tenth week of release, at sales of 3.6 million.^[14]

On 14 April 2007, Groban joined Idina Menzel for a PBS Soundstage taping. The next day, he held his own taping for the same PBS TV series at Lincoln Center's Rose Hall at Jazz in New York City.

Groban was nominated for the 2008 Juno Award for International Album of the Year for Noël. In collaboration with French chanson legend Charles Aznavour, the two of them recorded Aznavour's signature song La Bohème as a duet in English and French. It is due to be released on Aznavour's next album, titled Duets.

On 1 July 2007, Groban performed with Sarah Brightman for the Concert for Diana at Wembley Stadium; it was broadcast to over 500 million homes in 140 countries.

On 23 August 2007, Groban performed "You Raise Me Up" on Episode 14 of the talent show Last Choir Standing.

On 10 February 2008, Groban performed at the 2008 Grammy Awards with Andrea Bocelli in a tribute to Luciano Pavarotti.

On 12 and 13 May 2008, Groban performed as Anatoly Sergievsky in "Chess in Concert" at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

On 15 July 2008, Groban performed "God Bless America" during the 7th inning stretch at the 79th All-Star Game in New York City at Yankee Stadium.

On 29 August 2008, Groban appeared on the final episode of The Charlotte Church Show for a brief interview. The show ended as Groban performed "The Prayer" with host Charlotte Church.

On 21 September 2008, Groban performed a comical medley of well-known TV theme songs at the 60th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards.

In December 2008, Groban appeared on Never Mind the Buzzcocks. He performed a duet with Only Men Aloud! at the Royal Variety Show at the London Palladium for the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall.^[15]

On Sunday, 18 January 2009, Groban performed as part of the Presidential Inauguration ceremonies, performing "My Country 'Tis of Thee" in duet with Heather Headley.^[16]

On 28 March 2009, Groban performed a duet of "Bridge over Troubled Water" with Jordin Sparks for the charity event Celebrity Fight Night.

In March 2009, Groban covered the hits of the late Casey Tatum and his brother on Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!. On September 14, 2009, Groban appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show and surprised an audience member. Two days later he made a cameo appearance on Glee.

Groban was also featured in Nelly Furtado's song "Silencio", which was released on September 1, 2009. This song is from Nelly's first full length Spanish album "Mi Plan".

At the 2010 BCS National Championship Game, he performed the Star Spangled Banner on Jan. 7, 2010 with Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, at the historic Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California.

Various music critics have described Groban's voice in different ways, with some referring to him as a tenor^[17][18] and others as a baritone.^[19][20] In performance, Groban's music goes as low as G2 (as in the song "To Where You Are") and extends up to at least B4 flat^[21] or the second B flat above middle C (as heard in "You Raise Me Up").^[22] This places his voice lower than the tenor range on the low end, and just short of Tenor C, and therefore above the baritone range, on the high end.^{[23] [24]} In a 2002 New York Times article, Groban described himself as a "tenor in training".^[25]

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). He also sang a solo on the recording of We Are The World 25 for Haiti (2010). 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. Mandela appointed Groban as an Official Ambassador for Mandela's Project 46664, a campaign to help raise Global awareness of HIV/AIDS in Africa. On April 25, 2007, Josh Groban performed with the African Children's Choir on American Idol's "Idol Gives Back" episode. Also on September 2, 2007 Josh Groban donated $150,000 to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to fund music education.^[26] On February 28, 2008 he appeared in One Night Live at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada with Bryan Adams, Sarah McLachlan, Jann Arden and RyanDan in aid of the Sunnybrook Hospital Women and Babies Program. In honor of his 27th birthday, his fans set out to raise $27,000 in a project called "Raise 27". They ended up raising a total of $44,227 for the Josh Groban Foundation, to benefit the Noah's Ark children's orphanage called Siyawela in South Africa. Groban has since referred to this donation as "the best birthday present ever".^[27]

Some of Groban's musical influences have been Radiohead, Steve Perry, Paul Simon, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Freddie Mercury^[28] and Björk.^[12] He cites as vocal influences "anyone who told a story with their songs," including Mandy Patinkin, Klaus Nomi, George Hearn, and Luciano Pavarotti.^[29]

He was named the #1 Best Selling Artist All Time on Barnes & Noble in 2007

The debut episode of the podcast Tell 'Em Steve-Dave! is entitled Josh Groban Stole My Mom. It tells the story of how the mother of Bryan Johnson, or "Steve-Dave" from the View Askewniverse, abandoned her son in favor of Groban's vocal stylings.^[30]

Josh Groban dated January Jones from 2003–06.^[31] He continues to reside in his hometown of Los Angeles, California.

In 2002, Josh was listed as "100 Sexiest Newcomer" and in 2008, Josh became one of People's "100 Most Beautiful People".

• Josh Groban In Concert - 2002
• Live at the Greek - 2004
• Up Close with Josh Groban (Mother's Day release) - 2008
• Awake Live - 2008
• Soundstage Presents: Josh Groban - An Evening in New York City - 2009

• Sarah Brightman: La Luna: Live in Concert (DVD) - 2001 - Duet on "There for Me"
• Enchantment (Charlotte Church) - 2001 - Duet on "The Prayer and “Somewhere"
• Prelude: The Best of Charlotte Church - 2002 - Duet on "The Prayer"
• Concert for World Children's Day (DVD) - 2002 - Performed "Gira Con Me," "To Where You Are," "The Prayer" (duet with Céline Dion), and "Aren't They All Our Children Anthem" as a cast.

• Charlotte Church - Enchantment - 2001 - "The Prayer" and "Somewhere"
• Barbara Cook - Barbara Cook at the Met- 2006 - "Not While I’m Around" and "Move On" performed live at the Metropolitan Opera.
• Hurricane Relief — Come Together Now: "Alla Luce del Sole" and "Tears in Heaven" - 2005 - Participated in the fund raising concert and CD for victims of the hurricanes of 2005, including Katrina and Rita.
• Barbra Streisand - Duets - 2002 - "All I Know of Love"
• Angelique Kidjo - Djin Djin - 2007 - "Pearls" (also featuring Carlos Santana)
• Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur (The Complete Recordings) - "Imagine"
• David Foster - The Best of Me - 2002 - "The Prayer" with Charlotte Church
• Hit Man: David Foster and Friends - 2008 - Bridge Over Troubled Water (featuring Brian McKnight)
• Charles Aznavour - Duos - 2008 - "La Boheme" (duet), recorded in French and English versions
• Plácido Domingo - Amore Infinito - 2008 - "La tua semplicità" (duet)
• Chris Botti - Live In Boston - 2009 - "Broken Vow"
• Nelly Furtado - Mi Plan - 2009 - "Silencio"
• Joshua Bell - At Home With Friends - 2009 - "Cinema Paradiso"^[33]

• Performed song "The Prayer" with Charlotte Church at 2002 Winter Olympics closing ceremony in Salt Lake City, Utah
• Christmas Concert at Vatican City, December 2002
• CHESS: Actors' Benefit Fund Concert - 2003
• Super Bowl XXXVIII - February 1, 2004 - Performed "You Raise Me Up"
• Come Together Now — Hurricane Relief Concert - 2005
• 2005 World Series - October 22, 2005 - Performed the National Anthem
• American Music Awards - 2006 - performed "February Song"
• Kennedy Center Honors (honoring Andrew Lloyd Webber) - 2006 - Performed "Music of the Night" from "Phantom of the Opera"
• Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - 2006 - performed "February Song"
• Awake Tour - 2007
• American Idol Gives Back [1]- 2007 - performed "You Raise Me Up" with The African Children's Choir
• Concert For Diana - July 1, 2007 - performed "All I Ask Of You" from "Phantom of the Opera" alongside Sarah Brightman
• 50th Annual Grammy Awards — February 10, 2008 - performed "The Prayer" with Andrea Bocelli
• Celine Dion: That's Just the Woman In Me — Concert Special -February 15, 2008 - performed "The Prayer" with Celine Dion
• Classical Brit Awards May 8, 2008 - performed "February Song" and "Smile" by Charlie Chaplin
• Chess (musical) May 12–13, 2008 at the Royal Albert Hall, London playing the role of Anatoly Sergievsky, the Russian
• 46664 (Live Concert) June 27, 2008 The Mandela 90th Birthday concert in Hyde Park London, performing "Machine" and "Weeping" with Vusi Mahlasela.
• 2008 Major League Baseball All-Star Game - July 15, 2008 - Performed God Bless America during the 7th inning stretch at Yankee Stadium
• The Charlotte Church Show — August 28, 2008 - Performed "The Prayer" with Charlotte Church at the end of her show.
• Stand Up to Cancer benefit concert - September 8, 2008- performed a duet of "Imagine" with Monica Mancini, with Joshua Bell on violin and Dave Grusin on piano and also joined the rest of the ensemble to end the show singing "I Stand For Life"
• 60th Primetime Emmy Awards September 21, 2008 - Performed a medley of famous television theme songs from the last 60 years of TV series.
• We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial January 18, 2009 - Performed "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" with Heather Headley and the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington, DC.
• Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! - March 30, 2009 - "Groban Sings Casey" - a medley of Casey favorites, including "Time Travel", "Horse and Buggy Ride", "(I Want To Ride) In A Choo-Choo Train", "Hamburgers And Hot Dogs", and "Cops and Robbers".
• Performed song "Still Fighting It" with Ben Folds at the Hollywood Palladium on May 5, 2009
• 2010's "We Are The World" for Haiti

• A.I. - Artificial Intelligence Original Motion Picture Score - 2001 - Duet on "For Always" (with Lara Fabian)
• Troy Soundtrack - 2004 - "Remember Me" with Tanja Tzarovska
• The Polar Express Soundtrack - 2004 - "Believe"
• Lady in the Water (teaser trailer) - 2006 - "Mi Mancherai (Il Postino)"

• 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"
• Glee - 2009-2010 - Himself in "Acafellas" and the season one finale, "Journey".

Certain performers have appeared with frequency as part of Groban's band. These include:

• Tariqh Akoni: guitar and music director
• Lucia Micarelli: violin, concert mistress, and featured soloist
• Tim Curle: percussion

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Josh Groban.

• Official Josh Groban site
• BroadwayWorld: Idina Menzel & Josh Groban to Star in 'Chess' Musical UK Concert?
• Chess in Concert (2008)
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