JOSH GROBAN Biography - Musicians

 
 

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JOSH GROBAN

Name: Josh Groban                                                                         
Birth name: Joshua Winslow Groban                                                         
Born: 27 February 1981 Los Angeles, California,                                           
                                                                                           
Joshua Winslow Groban (born February 27, 1981) is a Grammy-nominated American             
singer/songwriter known for his lyrical baritone voice. He has concentrated his           
career so far mostly in concert singing and recordings, although he has stated             
that he wishes to pursue musical theatre in the future.                                   
                                                                                           
Josh Groban was born in Los Angeles, California, to a Jewish American father (a           
descendant of Polish and Russian immigrants) and a Norwegian American mother.             
His father converted to Christianity upon marriage, and Groban was raised an               
Anglican-Episcopalian. His younger brother Christopher shares a birthday with             
him four years later.                                                                     
                                                                                           
Groban debuted as a singer in seventh grade, but soon put it on hold for a few             
years. "I enjoyed the arts aspects, but my grades were slipping. I didn't feel             
that I was getting enough creative input. So I went to Bridges Academy to get my           
grades up to straight A's." While at Bridges Academy, Groban took normal classes           
from 9:00 AM until 1:00 PM, and then afterwards attended theater classes. He               
also played the penny whistle as well as the kazoo in grade school.                       
                                                                                           
In 1997 and 1998 , Groban attended the Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan,                 
majoring in musical theater, which is also when he began taking voice lessons             
outside of school. "I started taking music lessons on the side. I was very much           
into musical theater. I had a pretty good baritone voice, so I began acting and           
singing in school productions".                                                           
                                                                                           
In late 1998, the 17-year-old Groban was introduced by his vocal coach to Grammy-winning   
producer/arranger David Foster. Groban worked for 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 Celine           
Dion -- and the January 1999 inauguration of Gray Davis as governor of                     
California.                                                                               
                                                                                           
Groban attended the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts as a theater               
major and graduated in 1999 and then attended Carnegie Mellon University in               
Pittsburgh, PA, studying drama.