Bio

With his flawless lyrical baritone, Josh Groban is known around the world as a classically influenced pop singer. Over the past five years, the Los Angeles native has become an international superstar, selling more than 23 million albums and filling every arena on his 81-city Awake World Tour, which visited North America, Europe, Australia, and the Philippines between February and October in 2007. He was also the best-selling recording artist of 2007 thanks to sales of his double-platinum 2006 CD Awake and his blockbuster Christmas album, Noel. Recorded in June 2007 with the London Philharmonic, the stunning collection of holiday classics sold 4 million copies in the U.S. alone — making it 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.

But for all of his success, Groban remains intent on staying connected: not only to his voice and to his songs, but also to his fans. The result of this connection has never been more evident than on his new CD/DVD, Awake Live, which was released by Reprise/143 Records on May 6th, 2008. “The DVD takes the Awake album where it needed to be — on to the stage,” Groban says. “Singing these songs live allowed me to connect with my audience in a way I never had before.”

His third live DVD (following 2002’s Josh Groban in Concert and 2004’s Live at the Greek), Awake Live gives listeners a sense of Groban’s astonishing body of work, as well as why his legions of dedicated fans refer to themselves as “Grobanites.” It captures his spirit and vitality
throughout an electrifying performance last August in Salt Lake City. While the majority of the songs are drawn from Awake, including the singles “You Are Loved (Don’t Give Up),” “February Song,” and “Lullaby,” the package features favorites from Groban’s three multi-platinum albums, including “Canto All Vita” from his self-titled 2001 debut, and the smash hit “You Raise Me Up” from 2003’s Closer.

“The studio process for Awake was very exciting and a little scary because we explored new creative territory,” Groban says. “I knew the songs would really come to life on stage and blossom into what they were meant to be. The energy of the audience and the element of the unknown were the ingredients needed to complete the album.”

In September 2006, Groban released Awake and proved his versatility as an artist by co-writing and co-producing several songs on the album, including “February Song.” 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, which paid off when the album debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard album chart. It has now sold more than 2 million copies in the U.S.

His career began to take flight after being cast on Ally McBeal by the show’s creator David E. Kelley, who asked him to perform “You’re Still You” for the show’s 2001 season finale. Inundated with thousands of emails from fans, Kelley asked Groban to return the following season to reprise his role and perform "To Where You Are." Warner Bros. Records soon offered Groban an exclusive recording contract with renowned producer David Foster at the production helm. Six months after its release, his debut album, Josh Groban, went double-platinum and has now sold nearly 5 million copies in the U.S.

Groban continued building momentum and recognition through a series of high-profile concert appearances, including the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, and a Christmas performance at the Vatican in Rome. In 2003, he performed the closing number at the concert for World Children's Day. Later that year, Groban released his second album, Closer, which sold 375,000 copies in its first week and skyrocketed to No. 1 two months later thanks to the single “You Raise Me Up” — a track that earned Groban a Grammy Award nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. Closer went on to spend an astonishing 62 weeks on the Billboard Pop chart. That year, nearly 40 million people saw Groban perform as part of the AOL “Broadband Rocks” concert series.

In 2004, inspired by a visit with Nelson Mandela during a trip to South Africa, Groban established the Josh Groban Foundation to help children in need through education, healthcare, and the arts. Mandela appointed Groban an official ambassador for Mandela's Project 46664, a campaign to help raise global awareness of HIV/AIDS in Africa. Over the years, Groban’s devoted fans have raised more than a million dollars for the Josh Groban Foundation. Groban’s commitment to help better the world around him includes his participation in many charity events including VH1 Save the Music, Tsunami Aid: A Concert of Hope, and Live 8.

Though just 28, Groban has dueted with some of the most celebrated recording artists in history, including Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion, Andrea Bocelli (in a tribute to the late Luciano Pavarotti at the 2008 Grammy Awards), and Sarah Brightman (at Princes William and Harry’s Concert for Diana in London in 2007). Groban also sang at the closing ceremony for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, a performance that was seen by more than two billion people. Memorable television appearances over the years include six visits to The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Kennedy Center Honors (honoring Andrew Lloyd Weber), two PBS specials (the first of which became the best-selling DVD of 2002), performances at Super Bowl XXXVIII, the Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade, and American Idol’s “Idol Gives Back.” Groban recently had the opportunity to show his lighter side by joining the likes of Brad Pitt, Cameron Diaz, and Harrison Ford in Jimmy Kimmel’s hilarious video spoof with Ben Affleck.

Groban and his recordings have been nominated for more than a dozen awards including the American Music Award, World Music Award, a Grammy Award, and an Academy Award for his performance of “Believe” from the 2005 DreamWorks film, Polar Express starring Tom Hanks.

In 2008, Groban showed no signs of slowing down. In January, he performed at a special live event at the Sundance Film Festival entitled “Where Music Meets Film.” In April, Groban joined Paul Simon for his “Love in Hard Times: The Music of Paul Simon” concert series at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. In May, Groban appeared as “The Russian” in a 21st-anniversary concert performance of the cult musical Chess, opposite Idina Menzel, at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

On his future, Groban is open to a host of possibilities. “I am fortunate enough to have had many really big moments in my career. I think the mistake a lot of people in my position make is to always search for the next big thing. I am looking forward to playing some small theaters. I’m looking forward to writing more. I want to delve further into my acting career and explore some of the film and TV opportunities that I haven’t had time for. My outlook is to expect the unexpected. And when the next step comes, I’m prepared to take it.”