Josh Groban
With his flawless lyrical baritone, Josh Groban is a classically influenced pop singer beloved the world over for his astonishing range and moving interpretations of Italian standards, passionate ballads, and his own emotionally resonant compositions. An international superstar, the Los Angeles native has sold more than 25 million albums and DVDs worldwide, and filled arenas from North America and Europe to Australia and the Philippines. He was the best-selling recording artist of 2007 thanks to sales of his double-platinum 2006 album Awake and his blockbuster 5x-platinum Christmas album, Noel. Featuring the London Philharmonic, the Grammy-nominated collection of holiday classics has sold five million copies in the U.S. alone. It was the best-selling album of 2007 and spent five consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart, breaking a holiday album record previously held by Elvis Presley. Groban and his recordings have been nominated for more than a dozen awards including an American Music Award, a World Music Award, a Juno Award, two Grammy Awards, and an Academy Award for “Believe” from the 2005 film Polar Express.
Indeed the 29-year-old Groban has made a stunning ascent since his career began to take flight more than a decade ago when multi-platinum songwriter and producer David Foster asked him to stand in for Andrea Bocelli for a duet on “The Prayer” with Celine Dion at the 1999 Grammy Awards. Soon after, Warner Bros. Records offered Groban an exclusive recording contract with Foster at the production helm. While working on the album, Groban was cast on Ally McBeal by the show’s creator David E. Kelley, who asked him to return to perform on the 2001 season finale. Six months later, Warner Bros. Records released Groban’s self-titled debut album, which has now sold more than five million copies in the U.S.
Groban continued building recognition through a series of high-profile concert appearances, including the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, the closing ceremony for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City (seen by more than two billion people), and a Christmas performance at the Vatican in Rome. In 2002, he filmed his first PBS special, which was released on DVD as Josh Groban in Concert and became the best-selling DVD of that year with 6x-platinum in sales. In 2003, Groban duetted with Celine Dion on the closing number at the concert for World Children’s Day. Later that year, Groban released his second album, Closer, which skyrocketed to No. 1 fueled by the single “You Raise Me Up” — a track that earned Groban his first Grammy Award nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. Closer went on to spend an astonishing 62 weeks on the Billboard Pop chart. in 2004, Groban released his second DVD, Live at the Greek, which has been certified 6x-platinum.
Also in 2004, Groban established the Josh Groban Foundation to help children in need through education, healthcare, and the arts after an inspiring visit with Nelson Mandela during a trip to South Africa. Mandela appointed Groban an official ambassador for Mandela’s Project 46664, a campaign to help raise global awareness of HIV/AIDS in Africa. (Groban performed at the Nelson Mandela 90th Birthday Celebration concert in London’s Hyde Park in 2008.) Over the years, Groban’s devoted fans (who refer to themselves as “Grobanites”) have raised more than a million dollars for the Josh Groban Foundation. Groban’s commitment to improve the world around him includes his participation in many charity events including VH1 Save the Music, Tsunami Aid: A Concert of Hope, Live 8, Music Cares, Neil Young’s Bridge School Benefit, Stand Up To Cancer, and this year’s “We Are the World: 25 for Haiti.”
In September 2006, Groban released his third album, Awake, and proved his versatility as an artist by co-writing and co-producing several tracks, including “February Song” and “Lullaby.” Featuring collaborations with Dave Matthews, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Herbie Hancock, Imogen Heap, Glen Ballard, and John Ondrasik’s Five for Fighting, Awake represented a creative leap forward for Groban that paid off when the album debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard album chart. It has been certified double-platinum in the U.S. and has sold more than three million copies worldwide.
In February 2007, Groban hit the road for his sold-out 81-city Awake World Tour. The spirit of these electrifying concerts has been captured on 2008’s CD/DVD Awake Live, which features such fan favorites as “Canto All Vita” and “You Are Loved (Don’t Give Up).” Groban capped off 2007 with the October 9th release of Noel, which was certified quadruple platinum just nine weeks later. The first Christmas album to reach No. 1 in 13 years, the album also earned Groban his second Grammy Award nomination, this time for Best Traditional Pop Vocal album in 2009.
In 2008, Groban performed at a special live event at the Sundance Film Festival entitled “Where Music Meets Film,” joined Paul Simon for his “Love in Hard Times: The Music of Paul Simon” concert series at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and appeared as the Russian player Anatoly in a 21st-anniversary performance of the cult musical Chess at London’s Royal Albert Hall. (The show aired on PBS’s Great Performances and was released as a two-CD set entitled Chess in Concert last year.) Groban also performed a tribute to the late Luciano Pavarotti with Andrea Bocelli at the 2008 Grammy Awards, and a comic medley of well-known TV theme songs at the 60th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. He showed his lighter side by joining the likes of Brad Pitt, Cameron Diaz, and Harrison Ford in Jimmy Kimmel’s hilarious video spoof “I’m F***ing Ben Affleck.” In November 2008, Warner Music International released Josh Groban — A Collection, a two-CD set of hits that gave international audiences a sense of Groban’s astonishing body of work and why he has become such a staggering musical phenomenon.
Groban kicked off 2009 by duetting with Heather Headley at We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial. He was also featured on The Simpsons, performed on Adult Swim’s Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, and guest starred on Fox’s hit show Glee — an appearance so popular that the producers invited him back to guest star on this year’s season finale. No stranger to television, Groban has made many memorable small-screen appearances over the years, including six visits to The Oprah Winfrey Show, performances at The Kennedy Center Honors, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Super Bowl XXXVIII, the Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade, American Idol’s “Idol Gives Back,” and Live from Abbey Road. He will further flex his acting chops by starring in an as-yet-untitled motion picture comedy starring Steve Carell, Julianne Moore, and Kevin Bacon, due in spring 2011.
Groban is currently in the studio working on his fifth album with noted producer Rick Rubin.
(July 2010)
