Josh Groban Biography

Josh Groban

Date of Birth: February 27, 1981

Joshua Winslow Groban was born in Los Angeles to school teacher Lindy Johnston and businessman Jack Groban. He also has a younger brother named Chris, who was born on the exact same day as Josh, but four years later. Josh comes from a musical family — his grandmother could play the piano by the age of three and attended Juilliard, while his father was an accomplished pianist. Although Josh's father is from an Ashkenazi Jewish family, he converted to Christianity when he married Josh's mother, and so Josh and his brother were raised Episcopalian.

Josh's parents encouraged him to listen to a variety of music styles. This resulting in him being drawn to musicians who decided not to settle into one particular musical style. Josh first sang in public when he was in the seventh grade, singing a solo of "S'wonderful" alone on stage at his school's cabaret night. However, he initially planned on going into acting, and played the lead role of Tevye in his high school's production of Fiddler on the Roof. In the summers of 1997 and 1998, he majored in music theater at Interlochen Center for the Arts Camp in Michigan, and began taking vocal lessons. He was also interested in being a magician, auditioning for the Magic Castle nightclub as a teen.

Josh graduated in 1999 from the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts as a theater major. When he was only 17 years old, Josh's vocal coach Seth Riggs introduced him to Grammy-winning producer David Foster. At the time, Josh had no recording experience, and was preparing to begin studying drama at Carnegie Mellon University. David sent Josh to sing at several high profile gigs including the inauguration of California governor Grey Davis.

When writer and producer David E. Kelley witnessed the reactions of the audience to Josh as he performed at the event, he was so impressed that he wrote him into an episode of the Ally McBeal show. Josh's character of Malcolm Wyatt Malcolm Wyatt was so popular that it prompted 8,000 emails from viewers, and he was asked to return to the next season and perform the song "To Where You Are." At the 1998 Grammy Awards, David asked Josh to stand in for Andrea Bocelli to sing "The Prayer" with Céline Dion. Rosie O'Donnell was blown away by his performance, and invited him to appear on her talk show, The Rosie O'Donnell Show.

His success escalated when David helped Josh score a recording contract at Warner Bros. Records through his own 143 Records. After only four months into Josh's first year at Carnegie Mellon University, he dropped out to pursue his singing career with his new label. Josh's risk paid off when he made his debut on the soundtrack for the 2001 Steven Spielberg movie A.I.: Artificial Intelligence with the song "For Always.” In November of 2001, his self-titled debut album was released, and over the next year it successfully went double-platinum, eventually selling nearly four million copies.

Two years after his debut album, Josh released Closer, which quickly hit number one on the Billboard album charts. He then began his first world tour in February 2004, which promptly sold out all shows in less than 30 minutes. The album also scored him his first Grammy nomination in 2005 for the single "You Raise Me Up" in the Best Male Pop Vocal Performance category. Three years later, he released his next studio album, titled Awake. Josh then released a highly successful Christmas album titled Noël, not even a year after he released Awake.

While highly successful in music, Josh never gave up on his acting roots. He has played roles on TV shows such as Glee, and lent his voice to animated shows such as American Dad!. He also had his first role in a feature film in the romantic comedy Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011) playing a character named Richard. Josh continued to rapidly produce music, bringing legendary producer Rick Rubin into the studio for his fifth studio album, Illuminations, and then releasing All That Echoes in 2012. On April 28, 2015, Josh Groban announced the release of another album called Stages, consisting of Broadway musical cover songs.

To date, the successful singer has sold an incredible sum of over 25 million records worldwide. He cites as vocal influences "anyone who told a story with their songs," including artists such as Mandy Patinkin, Klaus Nomi, George Hearn, and Luciano Pavarotti. However, his dream duet partner is Björk. He has won countless awards, and was named the Best Selling Artist of All Time by Barnes & Noble in 2007. Not only is he a talented singer, but in 2002, he was listed in People Magazine's Sexiest Newcomer list, and in 2008, he was in their list for "100 Most Beautiful People."

Josh likes to keep busy by supporting charities, such as his very own Find Your Light Foundation, which supports children’s artistic, cultural and educational aspirations. He has performed for many charity events including Tsunami Aid: A Concert of Hope (2005), The Heart Foundation Gala (2005), and the David Foster and Friends Charity Gala (2006). He also donated $150,000 to Charlotte- Mecklenburg Schools to fund music education in 2007. Inspired by a visit with Nelson Mandela during a trip to South Africa, he established the Josh Groban Foundation in order to help underprivileged children through education, healthcare and the arts.

Regarding his dating life, Josh had dated Mad Men’s January Jones for over two years, but they split up in 2006. He wasalso romantically linked to Two Broke Girls star Kat Dennings from October 2014 to August 2016. As for hobbies, he loves tennis as well as video games, especially first-person and strategy games. He has mentioned in interviews that he was working on getting a pilot’s license. Most recently, he played Reverend Dan in The Hollars, which was released on August 26, 2016.

Filmography:

The Hollars (2016)
Muppets Most Wanted (2014)
Coffee Town (2013)
Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011)