| Josh
Groban, pop and classical singer,
made his debut in the seventh grade, but
then put music aside for a few years
until he enrolled at the Interlochen
Arts Program. In late 1998, he hooked up
with a friend of his vocal coach,
producer/writer/arranger David Foster.
Groban worked for Foster as a rehearsal
singer on a series of high-profile
events, including the inauguration of
Grey Davis as governor of California and
the Grammy Awards (at which he rehearsed
Foster's "The Prayer" with Celine Dion
in place of Andrea Bocelli). He was
accepted into the theater department of
Carnegie Mellon College, but put his
education on hold when he was offered a
recording contract at Warner Bros.
Records through Foster's 143 imprint. He
made his recording debut singing "For
Always" with Lara Fabian on the
soundtrack to A.I.: Artificial
Intelligence, and appeared in the 2001
season finale of the television series
Ally McBeal.
His debut album, Josh Groban, was
released in November 2001. Over the next
year, Groban became a star. His album
went double-platinum, and had his own
PBS special in November 2002. A month
later, he performed "To Where You Are"
and "The Prayer" at the Nobel Peace
Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway, and
joined the Corrs, Ronan Keating, Sting,
Lionel Richie and others for a holiday
performance at the Vatican in Rome. In
November 2003, Groban issued his second
album, Closer. Two months later, he
earned his first number one record when
Closer skyrocketed from number 11 to the
top spot on the Billboard album charts. |
